We are doing this study to see if writing about life experiences helps women adjust to breast cancer that has spread. We will compare two groups. One group will write about their breast cancer experience. The other will write about their daily activities. What we learn from this study may help us to find new ways to help women cope with breast cancer that has spread.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
98
Participants in the emotional disclosure condition will be instructed to write continuously for 20 minutes about their deepest thoughts and feelings regarding their cancer experience.
Participants assigned to the control condition will be instructed to describe in a detailed, nonemotional manner their daily activities. The 20-minute writing task will be introduced as a time management intervention
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, New York, United States
Determine the potential utility of expressive writing for enhancing existential well-being (i.e., increasing a sense of meaning and peace and reducing demoralization) among women with metastatic breast cancer.
Time frame: conclusion of the study
Determine the potential utility of expressive writing for reducing distress (i.e., depressive symptoms, anxiety, cancer-specific and general distress) among women with metastatic breast cancer.
Time frame: conclusion of the study
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