Trial reportSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2021
Effect of prolonged expressive writing on health outcomes in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses 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, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- 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
- Self-reported barriers in self-management of women with gestational diabetes: A systematic review of qualitative studies.Nursing open · 2023Pooled it
- Review
- Construction of a transfer learning-based depression detection model for female breast cancer patients: text sentiment analysis.BMC cancer · 2025Article
- Expressive writing interventions in patients with cancer: A scoping literature review.Palliative & supportive care · 2025Article
- Detection of differences in physical symptoms between depressed and undepressed patients with breast cancer: a study using K-medoids clustering.BMC cancer · 2025Article
- Construction of an Emotional Lexicon of Patients With Breast Cancer: Development and Sentiment Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Listening to voices from multiple sources: A qualitative text analysis of the emotional experiences of women living with breast cancer in China.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeThis study aims to evaluate the effects of prolonged expressive writing on health outcomes in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy to help understand how the dosage of an expressive writing intervention might moderate its effects.
methodsA total of 112 breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy were randomly allocated to the expressive writing group (n = 56) or the prolonged expressive writing group (n = 56). The expressive writing group received the standard expressive writing intervention based on Pennebaker's prompt to write for at least 20 min over four consecutive days (4 sessions). The prolonged expressive writing group used a modified prompt: write for at least 20 min 3 times a week over a 4-week period (12 sessions); patients could choose whether to write on consecutive days or not. All participants were required to write about their stressor-related upsetting or traumatic feelings about breast cancer. Outcomes were assessed and compared at baseline, as well as 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months postintervention.
resultsThere was no significant difference in the patients' quality of life, or physical and psychological wellbeing between the expressive writing group and the prolonged expressive writing group at any time point (all p > .05). The quality of life of breast cancer patients significantly decreased in the two groups over time (F = 40.64, p < .001).
conclusionOur findings suggest that the writing dosage does not moderate the effects of expressive writing on breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
trial registrationChiCTR1800016278.
Indexed as
Identifiers
32601853What 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.