title: Harnessing benefits of helping others: a randomized controlled trial testing expressive helping to address survivorship problems after hematopoietic stem cell transplant.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Prior research supports the hypothesis that cancer survivors who help others face treatment experience a range of psychosocial and health-related benefits as a result of peer helping. This study investigates an expressive helping (EH) intervention designed to harness those benefits by targeting survivorship problems among cancer survivors treated with hematopoietic stem cell transplant. EH includes two components: (a) emotionally expressive writing (EW; writing one's deepest thoughts and feelings about the transplant experience in a series of brief, structured writing sessions) followed by (b) peer helping (PH; helping other people prepare for transplant by sharing one's own transplant experiences along with advice and encouragement through a written narrative).
  
  
  METHODS
  EH was compared with neutral writing (NW), EW (without PH), and PH (without EW) in a 4-arm randomized controlled trial in which survivors completed baseline measures, 4 structured writing exercises (with instructions depending on randomization), and postintervention measures including validated measures of general psychological distress, physical symptoms, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among survivors with moderate-severe survivorship problems, EH reduced distress (compared with NW and PH; ps < .05) and improved physical symptoms (compared with NW, PH, and EW; ps < .002) and HRQOL (compared with NW; p = .02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Peer helping through writing benefits transplant survivors with moderate-severe survivorship problems, but only if they have first completed expressive writing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Behavior, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rini
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, William Paterson University.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Austin
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncological Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncological Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Winkel
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Education, Reykjavik University.
authors.forename: Heiddis
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Valdimarsdottir
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California at Los Angeles.
authors.forename: Annette L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Stanton
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncological Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Isola
authors.affiliation: John Theurer Cancer Center, Hackensack University Medical Center.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rowley
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncological Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
authors.forename: William H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Redd
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006379:Helping Behavior; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D010379:Peer Group; D011788:Quality of Life; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control; D013534:Survival; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013850:Thinking; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014956:Writing