Delivering a very brief psychoeducational program to cancer patients and family members in a large group format

Abstract

It is well established that brief psychoeducational programs for cancer patients will significantly improve mean quality of life. As this kind of adjunctive treatment becomes integrated into general cancer management, it will be necessary to devise cost-effective and efficacious programs that can be offered to relatively large numbers of patients. We have developed a very brief 4-session program that provides this service to 40-80 patients and family members per month (and seems capable of serving much larger numbers, depending on the capacity of the facility in which they assemble). Patients meet in a hospital auditorium for a large group, lecture-style program that offers training in basic coping skills: stress management, relaxation training, thought monitoring and changing, mental imagery and goal setting. Over the first year we have treated 363 patients and 150 family members. Improvements were assessed by changes in the POMS-Short Form, and both patients and family members were found to improve significantly over the course of the program. While this is not a randomized comparison, it suggests that the benefits gained from a large group in a classroom are not substantially less than the improvements that have been documented in the usual small group format, where more interactive discussions are possible.