• Yeon Hee Kim, Hwa Jung Kim, Seung Do Ahn, Yun Jeong Seo, and So Hee Kim.
• Department of Nursing, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
• Complement Ther Med. 2013 Aug 1; 21 (4): 379-87.

ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of meditation on anxiety, depression, fatigue, and quality of life in women who are receiving radiation therapy for breast cancer.DesignRandomized, non-program controlled, parallel intervention clinical trial.SettingThe ASAN Cancer Center located in Seoul, Korea.InterventionThe subjects of this study included 102 female breast cancer patients who had undergone breast-conserving surgery; these female patients were randomized into equally assigned meditation control groups, with each group consisting of 51 patients. The test group received a total of 12 meditation therapy sessions during their 6-week radiation therapy period, and the control group underwent only a conventional radiation therapy.OutcomeThe tools used to evaluate the effects of meditation were Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, Revised Piper Fatigue scale, and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer-Quality of Life Core-30. The results were analyzed based on the principles of intention-to-treat analysis, and, as a corollary analysis, per-protocol analysis was conducted.ResultsThe breast cancer patients who received meditation therapy compared with the non-intervention group saw improvements in reduction of anxiety (p=.032), fatigue (p=.030), and improvement in global quality of life (p=.028).ConclusionsBased on the results of this study, an affirmation can be made that meditation can be used as a non-invasive intervention treatment for improving fatigue, anxiety, quality of life, and emotional faculties of women with breast cancer.Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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