Reducing Depression, Anxiety, and Fatigue Level in Cervical Cancer through Physical Exercise Intervention

Abstract

Background: To identify the effect of physical exercise on depression, anxiety, and fatigue in cervical cancer patients.
 Methods: A quasi-experimental study ith a pretest-posttest with control group design was used. 30 respondents were selected using purposive sampling. The data were gathered by a focus group discussion. The Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS) was used to measure fatigue levels. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were used to measure anxiety and depression level. Paired t-test was used for data analysis.
 Results: There was a significant difference between depression level after physical exercise with t=3.552 (p<0.05). There was a significant difference between anxiety level after physical exercise with t=11.297 (p<0.05). There was a significant difference between fatigue level after physical exercise with t=17.457 (p<0.05).
 Conclusion: Physical exercise reduces anxiety, depression, and fatigue in patients with cervical cancer that will improve the quality of life of patients.

Existing psychological supportive care interventions for cervical cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Among twenty-six interventional studies included in this review, thirteen studies were RCTs [ 6 , 23 – 34 ], twelve studies were quasi-experimental design [ 35 – 46 ] and one study was one group pre-posttest design [ 47 ] with 11,638 cervical cancer patients from 6 different countries (China, Indonesia, Turkey, Zambia, USA and India). Out of twenty-six reviewed articles, majority; eighteen studies were from china, two form Indonesia, one from Turkey, one from Zambia, one USA and one from India.…”

“…Strong 18. Turkey, 2013 [ 35 ] QE 20 20 49.97 ± 11.31 This is as a whole, not written separately for T and C group NM During third and fourth chemotherapy cycle Usual care & Back massage (8steps) Provider researcher Usual care One day – one session (60–75 min for each session (back massage for 15 min before the infusion, between 25th and 40th minutes of each 1-hour period during the treatment and for 15 min at the end of the treatment in accordance with the duration of chemotherapy. Chemotherapy cycles administered to the patients included in the study were minimum 2-hour and maximum 3-hour cycles.…”

“…The sample size ranges from a minimum of 30 [ 24 , 35 ] to a maximum of 417 [ 6 ]. An equal sample size was used in the treatment and control group in 16 studies and an unequal sample size was used in 10 studies.…”

“…Regarding treatment trajectory, nine studies included patients receiving surgical treatment [ 6 , 25 , 27 , 32 – 34 , 36 , 44 , 46 , 48 ], seven studies included patients receiving chemotherapy [ 23 , 24 , 28 , 30 , 35 , 41 , 42 ], three studies included patients receiving surgery plus chemotherapy [ 26 , 40 , 47 ], two studies included patients receiving concurrent radio chemotherapy [ 37 , 39 ], two studies included patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy [ 38 , 45 ], one study included patients receiving comprehensive anti-cancer treatment [ 43 ], one study included patients completed the definitive treatment of cervical cancer before two months [ 29 ] and one study included patients they had just get a diagnosis of cervical cancer and before starting of cancer treatment [ 31 ].…”

“…Among these, eleven studies used nursing intervention: comprehensive nursing [ 32 , 36 , 42 ], psychological nursing [ 38 , 40 , 44 , 45 ], whole course standardized nursing [ 27 ], collaborative continuous nursing [ 33 ], empowerment education nursing [ 34 ], crisis intervention nursing [ 46 ] and perioperative nursing care [ 25 ]. Physical exercise was used in five studies: progressive muscle relaxation therapy [ 35 , 36 ], yoga nidra [ 30 ], back massage [ 41 ] and mindfulness-based stress reduction [ 39 ]. Supportive group psychotherapy was used in two studies [ 28 , 31 ].…”