Trial reportSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2019
Efficacy of Pennebaker's expressive writing intervention in reducing psychiatric symptoms among patients with first-time cancer diagnosis: a randomized clinical trial.
Trial report in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 35 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
- Getting Creative: Pilot Study of a Coached Writing Intervention in Patients with Advanced Cancer at a Rural Academic Medical Center.Journal of palliative medicine · 2022Trial
- Expressive writing interventions in patients with cancer: A scoping literature review.Palliative & supportive care · 2025Article
- Putting pain into words: the psalms of lament as an aid for the alexithymic.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Giving Voice to Women with Substance Use Disorder: Findings from Expressive Writing About Trauma.Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- Feasibility, acceptability, and potential effectiveness of an online expressive writing intervention for COVID-19 resilience.Complementary therapies in clinical practice · 2021Article
- Writing cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2021Review
- Effects of psychological stress on adverse pregnancy outcomes and nonpharmacologic approaches for reduction: an expert review.American journal of obstetrics & gynecology MFM · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe aim of this randomized clinical trial was to examine the efficacy of Pennebaker's expressive writing intervention (EWI) in improving the perceived quality of life (QoL) and in reducing psychiatric symptoms among patients who received a cancer diagnosis.
methodsSeventy-one consecutively recruited patients who received a cancer diagnosis for the first time in their life were randomized into two groups: an EWI group (EWG: n = 35) and a control group (CG n = 36). At the baseline, anamnestic information was collected for all patients, and the patients completed a series of self-reported measures assessing psychiatric symptoms, alexithymia, and health-related QoL. A modified Pennebaker's EWI adapted to cancer diagnosis was also administered to the EWG. Six months later, 32 patients (EWG: n = 17, CG: n = 15) participated in the follow-up and filled out the same questionnaires.
resultsThe Pennebaker's EWI was effective in decreasing global psychopathology (d = -.55). Small but significant effects were also observed for alexithymia levels and health-related QoL, with the EWG showing a reduction in alexithymia levels (d = -.31) and an increase in the mental component of QoL (d = .31) compared to the CG.
conclusionsOur findings indicate that the Pennebaker's EWI is effective in reducing the negative impact of cancer diagnosis on patients' mental health.
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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.