TY - JOUR
T1 - Contemplative self healing in women breast cancer survivors
T2 - A pilot study in underserved minority women shows improvement in quality of life and reduced stress
AU - Charlson, Mary E.
AU - Loizzo, Joseph
AU - Moadel, Alyson
AU - Neale, Miles
AU - Newman, Chayim
AU - Olivo, Erin
AU - Wolf, Emily
AU - Peterson, Janey C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Charlson et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
PY - 2014/9/23
Y1 - 2014/9/23
N2 - Background: Among underserved, largely minority women who were breast cancer survivors, this pilot project was designed to evaluate the quality of life outcomes of a 20 week Contemplative Self-Healing Program.Methods: Women previously treated for stage I-III breast cancer were assessed before and after the 20 week program with the FACT-G, FACT-B, FACIT-Spirituality, ECOG, and the Impact of Events Scale. They participated in a 20-week intervention involving guided meditation and cognitive-affective-behavioral learning.Results: With an average age of 63, 62% of the participants were African-American or Latino. With an average of 5.4 years since the diagnosis of breast cancer, 72% had an ECOG performance status of 1. 57% were currently working.Their baseline FACT-G was 80.5 ± 15.1, and their baseline Impact of Events Scale was 26.3 ± 18.9. The within-patient improvement on the FACT-G was 4.6 ± 10.9 (p = .01); in parallel the FACT-B improved by 2.8 ± 12.8 points (p = .03). The Impact of Events Scale improved by 6.6 ± 15.5 points (p = .01). There was significant within-patient improvement on both the avoidance scale (3.8 ± 9.2) and on the intrusion scale (2.9 ± 7.9). Patients who attended more sessions and conducted more home practice had greater improvements in quality of life.Conclusion: Persons receiving a 20-session contemplative self healing intervention showed improved quality of life, with a clinically and statistically significant increase in the FACT-G. In addition, this population showed a significant reduction in post-traumatic stress symptoms assessed by the Impact of Events Scale.Trial registration: Clinical Trials Gov NCT00278837.
AB - Background: Among underserved, largely minority women who were breast cancer survivors, this pilot project was designed to evaluate the quality of life outcomes of a 20 week Contemplative Self-Healing Program.Methods: Women previously treated for stage I-III breast cancer were assessed before and after the 20 week program with the FACT-G, FACT-B, FACIT-Spirituality, ECOG, and the Impact of Events Scale. They participated in a 20-week intervention involving guided meditation and cognitive-affective-behavioral learning.Results: With an average age of 63, 62% of the participants were African-American or Latino. With an average of 5.4 years since the diagnosis of breast cancer, 72% had an ECOG performance status of 1. 57% were currently working.Their baseline FACT-G was 80.5 ± 15.1, and their baseline Impact of Events Scale was 26.3 ± 18.9. The within-patient improvement on the FACT-G was 4.6 ± 10.9 (p = .01); in parallel the FACT-B improved by 2.8 ± 12.8 points (p = .03). The Impact of Events Scale improved by 6.6 ± 15.5 points (p = .01). There was significant within-patient improvement on both the avoidance scale (3.8 ± 9.2) and on the intrusion scale (2.9 ± 7.9). Patients who attended more sessions and conducted more home practice had greater improvements in quality of life.Conclusion: Persons receiving a 20-session contemplative self healing intervention showed improved quality of life, with a clinically and statistically significant increase in the FACT-G. In addition, this population showed a significant reduction in post-traumatic stress symptoms assessed by the Impact of Events Scale.Trial registration: Clinical Trials Gov NCT00278837.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84908068275&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84908068275&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/1472-6882-14-349
DO - 10.1186/1472-6882-14-349
M3 - Article
C2 - 25249005
AN - SCOPUS:84908068275
SN - 1472-6882
VL - 14
JO - BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
JF - BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
IS - 1
M1 - 349
ER -