Originally published as JCO Early Release 10.1200/JCO.2005.02.069 on June 6 2005

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Effect of Individual Psychological Intervention in Chinese Women With Gynecologic Malignancy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

From the Division of Gynaecological Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Clinical Health Psychology Division, Department of Psychiatry; and Clinical Trial Centre, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China

Address reprint requests to Yik-Ming Chan, MBBS, MRCOG, Division of Gynaecological Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Queen Mary Hospital, 102 Pokfulam Rd, Hong Kong, China. e-mail: chanymj{at}hkucc.hku.hk

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of psychological intervention in the care of cancer patients and to determine whether routine use of individual psychological therapies is indicated.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with newly diagnosed gynecologic malignancies from August 1999 to November 2000 were recruited and randomly assigned to either a control group receiving routine medical care or to an intervention group receiving individual psychotherapy. A set of fixed-choice, self-report questionnaires assessing the patients' psychological status, quality of life, and their perceptions related to the medical consultations was completed at recruitment and then every 3 months for 18 months. Data analysis was performed according to the intention-to-treat principle by fitting the data into a linear mixed-effects model. Multivariable analyses were performed to examine the effects of confounding factors.

RESULTS: One hundred fifty-five patients participated in the trial. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups at baseline. There was a trend toward better quality of life and functional status and also improvement of the symptoms over time for both groups. No differences were found between the groups in the scores measured by any of the instruments at baseline and at any time points after the cancer diagnosis. Psychological intervention had no significant effects on the psychosocial parameters.

CONCLUSION: Routine use of psychological therapies as given in our format has no significant effect on the patients' quality of life and psychological status.

Authors' disclosures of potential conflicts of interest are found at the end of this article.

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