Trial reportPsycho-oncology2017
Examination of moderators of expressive writing in patients with renal cell carcinoma: the role of depression and social support.
Trial report in Psycho-oncology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 3 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
19 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Writing to Keep on Living: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on Creative Writing Therapy for the Management of Depression and Suicidal Ideation.Current psychiatry reports · 2024Pooled it
- The need for supportive mental wellbeing interventions in bladder cancer patients: A systematic review of the literature.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Distress Management, Version 3.2019, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology.Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network : JNCCN · 2019Guideline
- Effects of expressive helping writing during stem cell transplant: Randomized controlled trial.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2025Trial
- Religious Coping in Cancer: A Quantitative Analysis of Expressive Writing Samples From Patients With Renal Cell Carcinoma.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2020Trial
- Expressive writing. A tool to help health workers of palliative care.Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis · 2018Trial
- Sex differences in the association of emotional approach coping with stress and quality of life among patients with renal cell carcinoma.Palliative & supportive care · 2026Article
- Expressive writing interventions in patients with cancer: A scoping literature review.Palliative & supportive care · 2025Article
- Latent profiles of ambivalence over emotional expression in young breast cancer patients: A cross-sectional study.International journal of nursing sciences · 2025Article
- Words matter: The use of generic "you" in expressive writing in an oncology setting.Journal of health psychology · 2024Article
- Effects of Structured Expressive Writing on Quality of Life and Perceived Self-Care Self-Efficacy of Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy in Central China: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Emotional state and cancer-related self-efficacy as affecting resilience and quality of life in kidney cancer patients: a cross-sectional study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2022Article
- Examining the Relationship between Depression, Anxiety and Stress in Kidney Cancer Patients.Journal of kidney cancer and VHL · 2022Article
- Emotional disclosure in palliative care: A scoping review of intervention characteristics and implementation factors.Palliative medicine · 2021Article
- Better Together: Long-term Behaviors and Perspectives after a Practitioner-Family Writing Intervention in Clinical Practice.The Permanente journal · 2021Article
- The Effect of Expressive Writing on Postpartum Depression and Stress of Mothers with a Preterm Infant in NICU.Journal of clinical psychology in medical settings · 2020Article
- Written Emotional Disclosure Can Promote Athletes' Mental Health and Performance Readiness During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Review
- The modifying effects of social support on psychological outcomes in patients with heart failure.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2019Article
- Expressive writing. A tool to help health workers. Research project on the benefits of expressive writing.Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo identify groups most likely to benefit from an Expressive Writing (EW) intervention, we examined psychosocial variables as intervention moderators. We hypothesized that EW would be particularly effective for participants with high levels of depressive symptoms and social support at study entry.
methodsPatients (n = 277; 60.6% male) with kidney cancer were randomly assigned to either an expressive (EW) or neutral writing (NW) condition. Intervention outcomes included measures of depressive symptoms (CESD), cancer-related symptoms (MDASI), fatigue (BFI), and sleep disturbances (PSQI) assessed at baseline, 1, 4, and 10 months later. Moderators were measured at baseline.
resultsAs hypothesized, depressive symptoms and social support moderated intervention efficacy. When examining both moderators simultaneously, EW appeared to be most effective in terms of cancer-related symptoms (p < 0.05) and depressive symptoms (p < 0.01) for participants with elevated depressive symptoms who received high levels of social support at baseline relative to their counterparts in the NW condition. Moreover, participants in EW with high levels of social support at baseline reported lower levels sleep disturbances (p = 0.005) than their counterparts in NW.
conclusionsRecognition of baseline depressive symptoms and social support as intervention moderators may lead to improved patient selection for EW interventions, as EW may be particularly beneficial regarding QOL outcomes for patients that have social support available including participants with depressive symptoms. EW may not be beneficial, or potentially even contraindicated, for participants lacking social support. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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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.