Couple-Focused Intervention for Breast Cancer Patients

Summary

The goal of the proposed study is to evaluate the efficacy of 2 couple-focused interventions developed to reduce the psychological distress on women and their partners during and after the breast cancer experience. The first group, an Enhanced Couple-Focused Group (ECG), incorporates cognitive-behavioral interventions (e.g., relaxation, stress management skills) as well as basic relationship communication and support skills (e.g., expressing support needs constructively). The second group, a Couples' Support Group (SG), is a non-structured group where general topics are discussed. The investigators will evaluate the impact of each group condition on patients' psychological adaptation, social and role functioning, and cancer treatment adherence. The investigators will also evaluate whether patient and partner perceptions of relationship support, relationship intimacy, stress management skills, and intervention group support mediate the groups' effects on each other's psychological adaptation.

The investigators hypothesize that ECG will have stronger positive effects on patient general and cancer-related distress and well-being than SG.

The investigators hypothesize that group support will mediate greater improvements in patient psychological functioning in both groups but that the effects of group support will be significantly stronger in SG than ECG.

Conditions

• Breast Cancer

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Group Counseling

Group counseling

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Christiana Care Health Services

  collaborator OTHER

• Abington Memorial Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Albert Einstein College of Medicine

  collaborator OTHER

• The Cooper Health System

  collaborator OTHER

• Virtua Health

  collaborator OTHER

• City University of New York, School of Public Health

  collaborator OTHER

• National Cancer Institute (NCI)

  collaborator NIH

• Fox Chase Cancer Center

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Sharon L Manne, PhD · Fox Chase Cancer Center

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2007-12-31

Primary Completion

2014-10-31

Completion

2015-10-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations