A stepped care stress management intervention on cancer-related traumatic stress symptoms among breast cancer patients—a randomized study in group vs. individual setting.

Objective: To evaluate the mode of delivery of a stress management intervention, in a group or individual setting, on self-reported cancer-related traumatic stress symptoms. A secondary aim was to evaluate a stepped care approach.

Methods: All study participants (n = 425), who were female, newly diagnosed with breast cancer and receiving standard oncological care were offered Step I of the stepped care approach, a stress management education (SME). Thereafter, they were screened for cancer-related traumatic stress symptoms, and, if present (n = 304), were invited to join Step II, a more intense intervention, derived from cognitive behavioral therapy, to which they were randomized to either a group (n = 77) or individual (n = 78) setting. To assess cancer-related traumatic stress symptoms, participants completed the Impact of Event Scale and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale at the time of inclusion, three-months post-inclusion and approximately 12-months post-inclusion.

Results: The SME did not significantly decrease any of the cancer-related traumatic stress symptoms. No statistically significant differences were found between the group and the individual setting interventions. However, only 54% of the participants attended the group setting compared to 91% for the individual setting.

Conclusion: The mode of delivery had no effect on the cancer-related traumatic stress symptoms; however, the individual setting was preferred. In future studies, a preference-based RCT design will be recommended for evaluating the different treatment effects.