Support Groups May Not Beat Breast Cancer
Group Therapy Participation Doesn't Lower Breast Cancer Death Risks
Sept. 28, 2004 -- Participating in a support group during breast cancer treatment may not help improve the survival odds for women with early stage breast cancer, a new study shows.
Researchers found that participation in cognitive-existential group therapy (CEGT), a type of support group-based therapy designed to improve the mood and attitude of patients with breast cancer, did not improve survival of women with early stage breast cancer.
Group therapy was initially used in cancer treatment to help patients cope with the emotional challenges of living with cancer. But a number of studies have recently looked at whether group therapy might help improve the odds of surviving breast cancer in women with advanced disease.
However, those studies have produced mixed results and have not looked at women in the early stages of breast cancer (breastcancer confined to the breast tissue and lymph nodes only).
Group Therapy's Role in Breast Cancer Treatment
In this study, published in the Nov. 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers looked at whether participating in group therapy increased the odds of survival among women diagnosed with breast cancer in the early stages.
More than 300 women with early stage breast cancer were randomly divided into two groups while they received chemotherapy to treat their disease. One group participated in 20 weekly sessions of group therapy plus three relaxation classes, and the other received three relaxation classes alone.
The study showed no significant differences in survival between the two groups. The average survival time was 81.9 months among the women who received group therapy versus 85.5 months in those that didn't.
"Although the results of this study do not demonstrate a survival benefit for patients receiving CEGT, they add to our body of knowledge of how psychosocial interventions can be used to help patients manage their disease," says researcher David W. Kissane, MD, chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, in a news release. "We hope that this study will help to frame future research on how group therapy can be used to improve patients' quality of life."