title: Yoga improves quality of life and benefit finding in women undergoing radiotherapy for breast cancer.
abstract: This study examined the effects of yoga on quality of life (QOL) and psychosocial outcomes in women with breast cancer undergoing radiotherapy. Sixty-one women were randomly assigned to either a yoga or a wait-list group. Yoga classes were taught biweekly during the 6 weeks of radiotherapy. Participants completed measures of QOL, fatigue, benefit finding (finding meaning in the cancer experience), intrusive thoughts, sleep disturbances, depressive symptoms, and anxiety before radiotherapy and then again 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after the end of radiotherapy. General linear model analyses revealed that compared to the control group, the yoga group reported significantly better general health perception (p = .005) and physical functioning scores (p = .04) 1 week postradiotherapy; higher levels of intrusive thoughts 1 month postradiotherapy (p = .01); and greater benefit finding 3 months postradiotherapy (p = .01). There were no other group differences in other QOL subscales for fatigue, depression, or sleep scores. Exploratory analyses indicated that intrusive thoughts 1 month after radiotherapy were significantly positively correlated with benefit finding 3 months after radiotherapy (r = .36, p = .011). Our results indicated that the yoga program was associated with statistically and clinically significant improvements in aspects of QOL.
authors.forename: Kavita D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Chandwani
authors.forename: Bob
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thornton
authors.forename: George H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Perkins
authors.forename: Banu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Arun
authors.forename: N V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Raghuram
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Nagendra
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression; D005221:Fatigue; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life; D015013:Yoga