title: The benefits of psychosocial interventions for cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many patients with cancer experience depression and anxiety, and an associated decrease in quality of life (QOL) during radiation therapy (RT). The main objective of the study was to determine the benefits of psychosocial interventions for cancer patients who received RT.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with cancer (n = 178) who agreed to participate in the study were randomized to the intervention arm (n = 89) or the control arm (n = 89). Patients in the intervention group received psychosocial care during RT, whereas the control group received RT only. The benefits of the intervention were evaluated using the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) to measure depression, the Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) to assess anxiety, and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) to survey health-related QOL. The association between intervention and survival was also assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients randomly assigned to the intervention arm showed significant improvements on symptoms of depression (p < 0.05) and anxiety (p < 0.05), health-related QOL (p < 0.05) (i.e. better global health status, and physical and emotional functioning, and less insomnia) when compared with controls. In the subset analysis, female patients, those that received high dose irradiation, and those that underwent adjuvant chemotherapy could benefit more from psychosocial intervention. There was no difference between the two groups in disease-free survival (DFS) (2-year DFS 79.8% in the intervention arm and 76.4% in the control arm; p = 0.527) and overall survival (OS) (2-year OS 83.1% in the intervention arm and 84.3% in the control arm; p = 0.925) CONCLUSIONS: Psychosocial intervention is a cost-effective approach that can improve a patient's mood and QOL both during and after RT. However, the intervention was not found to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and death.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  ChiCTR-TRC-12002438.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Guilin Medical College Affiliated Hospital, 15 Lequn Road, Guilin, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Hua-Ying
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Sheng-Kui
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Kai-Hua
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Yin-Chun
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Bu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000523:psychology*; D011613:Psychotherapy; D011788:Quality of Life; D011859:Radiography; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult