The Effectiveness of Psychosocial Support during Post-Surgical Treatment of Breast Cancer

Abstract

Sixty-four women undergoing radiotherapy for breast cancer in a residential setting which offered structured cognitive and emotional support, are compared for level of psychological distress and satisfaction with staff support with 104 women living at home during treatment. The outcome measures were the 30-item Goldberg General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and a 5-item author-constructed Treatment Support Index. A surprisingly large percentage of the sample did not, at any time, manifest appreciable psychological distress. For those women whose level of distress changed by a GHQ score of 3 or more over the three week course of treatment, residence in the Lodge was associated with decreased risk of change for the worse, and increased probability of change for the better. Results from the Treatment Support Index indicate that a significantly greater percentage of Lodge residents than non-residents were satisfied with the quantity, quality, and/or diversity of support available to them.

Supportive–expressive group therapy for primary breast cancer patients: a randomized prospective multicenter trial

“…In Goodwin's recent study of supportive-expressive group therapy for metastatic patients, she and her colleagues found that group therapy benefited women who were more distressed at baseline but that it did not benefit women who were less distressed at that time [31]. Another study examined the benefit of receiving a supportive intervention in women undergoing radiotherapy and also found that women who were initially highly distressed experienced the greatest benefit from the program [32]. A third study sought to identify the type of cancer patient most likely to benefit from a psychosocial intervention and found that older patients were less likely to receive immediate benefit from a psychosocial intervention, although they derived comparable benefit over time [33].…”

Group Interventions with Cancer Patients

“…However, surprisingly few of these reports have included quantitative evaluations of the psychological effects of group participation, and of the reports that did, the majority contained major methodological weaknesses and were therefore excluded from this review. Common weaknesses included the absence of a control condition (Baider, Amikam, & Kaplan De-Nour, 1984;, treatment groups derived from convenience samples (Golonka, 1977;Reele, 1994;Vachon et al, 1982), and failure to use any validated instruments (Ferlic, Goldman, & Kennedy, 1979). In all, four support-group evaluations identified in the search met the entry criteria for inclusion in this review.…”

Where are we now? Evaluating two decades of group interventions with adult cancer patients

“…No long-term followup was conducted and it is not clear from the authors whether both sexes were included in the study. Vachon et al (1982) reported a randomized study where newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, receiving postoerative radiotherapy, were allocated to group therapy (n = 64) and were compared with women provided with no intervention (n = 104). The intervention groups ran over 3 weeks and patients were provided with information on treatments and the cancer, were taught coping skills and provided with emotional support.…”