Trial reportPsychology & health2012
Randomised trial of expressive writing for distressed metastatic breast cancer patients.
Trial report in Psychology & health, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 66 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of expressive writing disclosure on cancer and palliative care patients' health-related outcomes.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2023Pooled it
- Non-pharmacological interventions to manage psychological distress in patients living with cancer: a systematic review.BMC palliative care · 2023Pooled it
- Expressive writing as a therapeutic intervention for people with advanced disease: a systematic review.BMC palliative care · 2019Pooled it
- An Integrative Review of Nonpharmacological Interventions to Improve Sleep among Adults with Advanced Serious Illness.Journal of palliative medicine · 2018Pooled it
- The effect of expressive writing intervention on psychological and physical health outcomes in cancer patients--a systematic review and meta-analysis.Psycho-oncology · 2015Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The Effect of Expressive Writing on the Experiences of Head and Neck Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Cancer medicine · 2025Trial
- Effect of prolonged expressive writing on health outcomes in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2021Trial
- Finding My Way: results of a multicentre RCT evaluating a web-based self-guided psychosocial intervention for newly diagnosed cancer survivors.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2019Trial
- Efficacy of Pennebaker's expressive writing intervention in reducing psychiatric symptoms among patients with first-time cancer diagnosis: a randomized clinical trial.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2019Trial
- Examination of moderators of expressive writing in patients with renal cell carcinoma: the role of depression and social support.Psycho-oncology · 2017Trial
- Protocol for the psychotherapeutic group intervention for facilitating posttraumatic growth in nonmetastatic breast cancer patients.BMC women's health · 2016Trial
- Randomized controlled trial of expressive writing for patients with renal cell carcinoma.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2014Trial
- The Effect of Pre-operative Psychological Interventions on Psychological, Physiological, and Immunological Indices in Oncology Patients: A Scoping Review.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Emotional disclosure in palliative care: A scoping review of intervention characteristics and implementation factors.Palliative medicine · 2021Article
- Effectiveness of Expressive Writing protocol in Palliative Care Healthworkers: a quantitative study.Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis · 2021Article
- Emotional disclosure as a therapeutic intervention in palliative care: a scoping review protocol.BMJ open · 2019Article
- Online health community experiences of sexual minority women with cancer.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2019Article
- Helping Yourself by Offering Help: Mediators of Expressive Helping in Survivors of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2017Article
- Visible ink: A flexible and individually tailored writing intervention for cancer patients.Palliative & supportive care · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Women with metastatic breast cancer and significant psychological distress (N = 87) were assigned randomly to engage in four home-based sessions of expressive writing or neutral writing. Women in the expressive writing group wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings regarding their cancer, whereas women in the neutral writing group wrote about their daily activities in a factual manner. No statistically significant group differences in existential and psychological well-being, fatigue and sleep quality were found at 8-weeks post-writing. However, the expressive writing group reported significantly greater use of mental health services during the study than the neutral writing group (55% vs. 26%, respectively; p < 0.05). Findings suggest that expressive writing may improve the uptake of mental health services among distressed cancer patients, but is not broadly effective as a psychotherapeutic intervention.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.