Psychological intervention in cancer patients: a randomized study

We examined the long-term effects of a behavioral intervention on the psych ological distress of patients recently diagnosed with localized cancer, who were being treated at Hadassah University Hospital. All 116 patients who m et the inclusion criteria (49 men and 67 women) were randomized into an int ervention group and a control group on a 3:1 basis. The intervention chosen was Progressive Muscle Relaxation with Guided Imagery, which is intended t o decrease psychological distress and increase the patient's sense of inter nal control. The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and the Impact of Events Sca le (IES) were used to assess psychological distress within I month of diagn osis, 3 months later (shortly before starting intervention), and 6 months a fter the end of the intervention. At the final assessment, the effect of th e behavioral intervention on psychological distress was positive. The effec t was relatively modest but statistically significant when assessed in term s of the Global Severity Index (GSI) (a decrease of 2.3 points in the GSI o f the treatment group as compared to an increase of 1.2 points in the GSI o f the control group P=.005). Despite these moderately positive findings, we suggest that the results might be more meaningful if cancer patients are f irst screened for psychological distress to exclude those with a low distre ss level that does not justify intervention, and only then randomized for p articipation in the study. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserv ed.