Work in other areas has suggested that preparation of patients concerning what to expect during a new treatmnt procedure can reduce anxiety, discomfort and even morbidity. It is proposed to test two kinds of minimal pre-treatment psychological intervention in a group of women beginning radiotherapy for cancer of three sites, uterus, cervix and breast. 20 women will receive an orientation to the setting and treatment by the radiotherapist; 20 will receive a brief interview eliciting current coping with the stress by the psychiatrist; 20 will serve as the control group receiving current management, i.e., no intervention. Women will be tested for adequacy of coping with stress (Katz Defensive Adequacy Scale), mood (levels of anxiety, depression and hope from content analysis of a 5 minute sample of tape recorded speech by the method of Gottshalk-Gleser) on three occasions: prior to orientation, during second week of treatment and at the end of radiotherapy. It is predicted that the group receiving orientation will show less distress at the second week, those interviewed will show next least and those without intervention most distress and least change from initial levels.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter