Ramachandra, P., Booth, S., Pieters, T., Vrotsou, K., & Huppert, F.A. (2009). A brief self-administered psychological intervention to improve well-being in patients with cancer: Results from a feasibility study. Psycho-Oncology, 18, 1323–1326.

To test the feasibility of a brief self-administered psychological intervention to improve well-being in patients with cancer

The intervention consisted of patient diary and CD meditation for home use with brief telephone support. Patients were requested to record three positive experiences each day in the diary and to plan one enjoyable activity each week and record in the diary. A recorded mindfulness “body scan” (meditation approach) 10 minutes in length was provided to each patient, and he or she was instructed to use this twice a day. Brief telephone contact was made in weeks 1, 2, and 4 to answer questions and encourage continued home practice.

• The study reported on a sample of 46 patients.
• Mean patient age was 60.8 years for women and 72.4 years for men.
• The sample was 47.8% female and 52.2% male.
• Female patients were diagnosed with breast cancer, and male patients were diagnosed with prostate cancer.

• Outpatient setting
• United Kingdom

Patients were undergoing the transition phase of care after initial treatment.

A randomized controlled trial design was used.

• World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale (WHO-QOL-BREF)
• Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)
• Social and Occupational Functional Assessment Scale (SOFAS): Interviewer-rated measure of overall level of functioning
• Life Orientation Test–revised (LOTR): 10-item scale to measure optimism/pessimism
• Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI)

The drop-out rate was almost 50% at the six-week point. Quality of life showed significant improvement at the six-week point (p = 0.046). No other significant differences were identified.

Compliance rates of patients remaining in the study suggest that the approaches used here were easy enough to use and acceptable to them; however, the extremely high drop-out rate suggests that the actual feasibility of this approach for any length of time is questionable.

• The study had a small sample size.
• The study has questionable feasibility due to the high drop-out rate.
• The final sample was too small to detect any significant differences.

This study involved multiple follow-up periods and several self-report questionnaires. The burden of this activity may have contributed to the high drop-out rate.