Journal
PSYCHOLOGY & HEALTH
Volume 27, Issue 1, Pages 88-100Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/08870446.2010.551212
Keywords
metastatic breast cancer; expressive writing; psychological distress; sleep; fatigue
Funding
- NCI NIH HHS [F32CA130600, P30 CA008748, F32 CA130600-03, F32 CA130600] Funding Source: Medline
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Women with metastatic breast cancer and significant psychological distress (N = 87) were assigned randomly to engage in four home-based sessions of expressive writing or neutral writing. Women in the expressive writing group wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings regarding their cancer, whereas women in the neutral writing group wrote about their daily activities in a factual manner. No statistically significant group differences in existential and psychological well-being, fatigue and sleep quality were found at 8-weeks post-writing. However, the expressive writing group reported significantly greater use of mental health services during the study than the neutral writing group (55% vs. 26%, respectively; p < 0.05). Findings suggest that expressive writing may improve the uptake of mental health services among distressed cancer patients, but is not broadly effective as a psychotherapeutic intervention.
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