Trial Information

Effects of Group Intervention on Anxiety, Depression and Quality of Life Among Women Operated for Breast Cancer. A Randomized, Prospective Study.

Women operated for breast cancer often experience psychosocial problems for several years.
Although, meta-analyses have clearly demonstrated that the efficacy of psychosocial support
groups, little is known about the effectiveness of this intervention when offered in the
hospital setting as a component of routine breast cancer care.

A few studies have found that psychological intervention reduce emotional distress and
enhance immune responses,but if there is an association between coping styles and immune
system is not clear.

440 breast cancer patients at two Hospital will be randomized into the study. Both Hospital
have standardised psychoeducative interventions as a component of routine breast cancer
care. Both Hospital will have two groups, the standardised groups and the experimental
groups. Participants will answer the same standardised questionnaires before surgery,2,6,12
months and 3 and 5 years after the interventions. Blood sample will be drawn at all
assessments. The questionnaires are the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the
Mini-mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale, the EORTC QLQ-BR32, the Life Orientation
Test-Revised.

All groups are facilitated by two nurse specialists and follow a structured program. The
standardised groups consists of three weekly 2-hours sessions and the experimental groups
will consists of six weekly 2-hours session. The intervention protocol has been approved by
the Norwegian Committee for medical research Ethics.

Knowledge from this study will be used to develop a manual for hospital based group
interventions for breast cancer patients.