Journal of behavioral medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Cognitive distraction and relaxation training for the control of side effects due to cancer chemotherapy.
Sixty cancer chemotherapy patients were randomly assigned to one of six conditions formed by a 3(cognitive distraction, relaxation training, no intervention) x 2(high anxiety, low anxiety) factorial design. All patients were followed for five consecutive chemotherapy sessions. Outcome measures included patient reports, nurse observations, and physiological indices. ⋯ There were no significant differences between distraction and relaxation training patients on any measure. Patients with high initial levels of anxiety exhibited continually elevated levels of distress throughout the chemotherapy experience; however, anxiety level did not interact with the effectiveness of the treatment interventions. Overall, the data support the use of both cognitive distraction and relaxation training for reducing the distress of chemotherapy with both high and low-anxiety patients and suggest that at least some of the effects of relaxation training can be achieved with distraction alone.