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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2015 Aug;24(8):910-8.
doi: 10.1002/pon.3656. Epub 2014 Aug 22.

A randomized trial comparing live and telemedicine deliveries of an imagery-based behavioral intervention for breast cancer survivors: reducing symptoms and barriers to care

Lyn W Freeman  1 , Rebecca White  2 , Chelsea G Ratcliff  3 , Sue Sutton  1 , Mary Stewart  4 , J Lynn Palmer  5 , Judith Link  6 , Lorenzo Cohen  7
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

A randomized trial comparing live and telemedicine deliveries of an imagery-based behavioral intervention for breast cancer survivors: reducing symptoms and barriers to care

Lyn W Freeman et al. Psychooncology. 2015 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: This multi-site randomized trial evaluates the quality of life (QOL) benefits of an imagery-based group intervention titled 'Envision the Rhythms of Life'(ERL).

Methods: Breast cancer survivors >6 weeks post-treatment were randomized to attend five weekly 4-h group sessions at a community center with therapist present (live delivery (LD), n = 48), therapist streamed via telemedicine (telemedicine delivery (TD), n = 23), or to a waitlist control (WL) group (n = 47). Weekly individual phone calls to encourage at-home practice began at session one and continued until the 3-month follow-up. Seven self-report measures of QOL were examined at baseline, 1-month and 3-month post-treatments including health-related and breast cancer-specific QOL, fatigue, cognitive function, spirituality, distress, and sleep.

Results: The Bonferroni method was used to correct for multiple comparisons, and alpha was adjusted to 0.01. Linear multilevel modeling analyses revealed less fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, and sleep disturbance for LD and TD compared with WL across the follow-up (p's < 0.01). Changes in fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, sleep disturbance, and health-related and breast cancer-related QOL were clinically significant. There were no differences between LD and TD.

Conclusions: Both the live and telemedicine delivered ERL intervention resulted in improvements in multiple QOL domains for breast cancer survivors compared with WL. Further, there were no significant differences between LD and TD, suggesting telemedicine delivered ERL intervention may represent an effective and viable option for cancer survivors in remote areas.

Keywords: breast cancer; cancer survivorship; guided imagery; quality of life; telemedicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Consort Diagram
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percent of participants reporting clinically significant sleep disturbance and fatigue PSQI = Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; FACIT-F = Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy Fatigue Scale; **WL differed from TD and LD p < 0.01; *WL differed from TD and LD p < 0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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