Trial reportCancer medicine2025
The Effect of Expressive Writing on the Experiences of Head and Neck Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Trial report in Cancer medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Beyond survival: psychoneuroimmunology-driven cancer psychological rehabilitation-a paradigm shift from symptom management to biobehavioral remodeling.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Expressive writing interventions in patients with cancer: A scoping literature review.Palliative & supportive care · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundExpressive writing (EW) has emerged as an innovative strategy for improving mood and quality of life. Nevertheless, insufficient research has been conducted on the impact of offering EW to patients with HNC. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of two forms of EW on anxiety, depression, nutrition, and sleep quality in HNC patients undergoing radiotherapy.
methodsWe conducted a single-blind, pretest, posttest, three-group randomized controlled trial. A total of 147 patients with HNC were randomly assigned to a benefit-finding writing group, neutral writing group, or control group. The intervention group patients performed EW during radiotherapy, with each writing session lasting 20 min, once a week for 4 consecutive weeks. Patient anxiety, depression, nutritional status, and sleep quality were measured at baseline (T0) and at the end of radiotherapy (T1).
resultsAfter 4 weeks of intervention, patients in the BF and NW groups experienced improvements in anxiety, depression, and sleep (p < 0.05) compared with those in the CG group, but the intervention did not significantly affect patients' nutritional status (p > 0.05). Compared with those in the CG, anxiety in the BF and NW groups slowed down the trend of increasing anxiety, and repeated measures analysis revealed a significant group × time interaction (p = 0.017, F = 4.205, η
conclusionsThis study provides preliminary evidence that two forms of EW are effective in alleviating anxiety and depression and improving sleep in patients with HNC but are not effective in improving their nutritional status.
trial registrationChiCTR2400084964.
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