Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2015;30(3):284-300.
doi: 10.1080/08870446.2014.971798. Epub 2014 Oct 27.

Randomised controlled trial of expressive writing and quality of life in men and women treated for colon or rectal cancer

Stephen J Lepore  1 , Tracey A Revenson, Katherine J Roberts, Julie R Pranikoff, Adam Davey
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Randomised controlled trial of expressive writing and quality of life in men and women treated for colon or rectal cancer

Stephen J Lepore et al. Psychol Health. 2015.

Abstract

Objective: This randomised trial tested (i) whether a home-based expressive writing (EW) intervention improves quality of life in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) and (ii) whether the intervention is more beneficial for men or for people who feel constrained in disclosing cancer-related concerns and feelings.

Design: Patients treated for CRC were randomised to an EW (n = 101) or control writing (CW; n = 92) group. Assessments were completed at 1 month pre- and post-intervention. Sex and perceived social constraints on disclosure were evaluated as moderators.

Main outcome measures: Primary outcomes were depressive symptoms, sleep problems and quality of life indicators.

Results: Eighty-one per cent of participants completed all writing assignments. Consistent with hypotheses, relative to the CW group, participants in the EW group expressed more negative emotion in writing and rated their writings as more meaningful, personal and emotionally revealing. There were no significant main effects of EW or moderating effects of sex or social constraints on outcomes.

Conclusions: Although EW is feasible to use with persons who have CRC, it was not effective as a stand-alone psychotherapeutic intervention. Neither was it more effective for men nor for people who felt they could not freely disclose cancer-related concerns and feelings.

Keywords: cancer; colorectal; expressive writing; psychological distress; quality of life; social constraints.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Participant flow chart.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aaronson NK, Ahmedzai S, Bergman B, Bullinger M, Cull A, Duez NJ, Takeda F. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30: A Quality-of-Life Instrument for Use in International Clinical Trials in Oncology. JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 1993;85(5):365–376. doi:10.1093/jnci/85.5.365. - PubMed
    1. American Cancer Society . Cancer facts & figures 2014. American Cancer Society; Atlanta: 2014.
    1. Buysse DJ, Reynolds CF, Monk TH, Berman SR, Kupfer DJ. The Pittsburgh sleep quality index: A new instrument for psychiatric practice and research. Psychiatry Research. 1989;28(2):193–213. doi:10.1016/0165-1781(89)90047-4. - PubMed
    1. Carmack CL, Basen-Engquist K, Yuan Y, Greisinger A, Rodriguez-Bigas M, Wolff RA, Pennebaker JW. Feasibility of an expressive-disclosure group intervention for post-treatment colorectal cancer patients: results of the Healthy Expressions study. Cancer. 2011;117(21):4993–5002. doi:10.1002/cncr.26110. - PubMed
    1. Chambers SK, Meng X, Youl P, Aitken J, Dunn J, Baade P. A five-year prospective study of quality of life after colorectal cancer. Quality of Life Research : An International Journal of Quality of Life Aspects of Treatment, Care and Rehabilitation. 2012;21(9):1551–64. doi:10.1007/s11136-011-0067-5. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources