Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Psychological Distress, Fear of Cancer Recurrence, Fatigue, Spiritual Wellbeing and Quality of Life in Patients with Breast Cancer - a Randomized Control Trial.
Sunre Park, Yasuko Sato, Yuka Takita, Noriko Tamura, Akira Ninomiya, Teppei Kosugi, Mitsuhiro Sado, Atsuo Nakagawa, Maiko Takahashi, T. Hayashida, D. Fujisawa
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management February 24, 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.02.017 (opens in new tab) via Semantic Scholar
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractAn eight-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) program, compared with a wait-list control, improved psychological distress, fear of cancer recurrence, fatigue, spiritual wellbeing, and quality of life in Japanese patients with stage I to III breast cancer. Benefits were maintained four weeks after the intervention ended.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 74 |
| Population | Japanese ambulatory patients with stage I to III breast cancer |
| Intervention | Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy |
| Duration | 8-week intervention, 4-week follow-up |
| Keywords | Medicine Psychology |
| Key finding | MBCT significantly improved psychological distress, fear of cancer recurrence, fatigue, spiritual wellbeing, and quality of life compared with a wait-list control, with effects maintained at four-week follow-up. |
Abstract
CONTEXT Mindfulness-based interventions have been receiving growing attention in cancer care. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this randomized controlled trial is to examine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for psychological distress (anxiety and depression), fear of cancer recurrence (FCR), fatigue, spiritual wellbeing and quality of life (QOL) in Japanese ambulatory patients with stage I to III breast cancer. METHODS A total of 74 patients were randomly assigned to either an eight-week MBCT intervention group (n = 38) or a wait-list control group (n = 36). The primary outcome was psychological distress, measured on Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The secondary outcomes were FCR (Concerns About Recurrence Scale - overall anxiety subscale), fatigue (Brief Fatigue Inventory), spiritual well-being (Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual), QOL (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General) and mindfulness skills (Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire). The participants were assessed at baseline (T0), week8 (T1), and week12 (T2). The results were analyzed using a linear mixed model, intention-to-treat. RESULTS The participants in the MBCT group experienced significantly better outcomes in their psychological distress (Cohen's d=1.17, p<0.001), FCR (d=0.43 p<0.05), fatigue (d=0.66, p<0.01), spiritual wellbeing (d=0.98, p<0.001) and QOL (d=0.79, p<0.001) compared with the control group. The difference remained significant at T2 (four weeks after completion of the intervention). CONCLUSIONS MBCT was demonstrated to improve wellbeing that encompasses psychological, physical and spiritual domains in Japanese patients with nonmetastatic breast cancer. The favorable effect was maintained up to four weeks after the completion of the intervention.