Background: EEG biofeedback (NF) is an established therapy to enable individuals to influence their own cognitive-emotional state by addressing changes in brainwaves. Psycho-oncological approaches of NF in cancer patients are rare and effects are hardly studied.
Objective: The aim of this explorative, randomized controlled trial was to test the effectiveness of an alpha and theta NF training protocol, compared to mindfulness based therapy as an established psycho-oncological treatment.
Methods: Of initially 62 screened patients, 56 were included (inclusion criteria were cancer independent of tumor stage, age >18 years, German speaking; exclusion criteria suicidal ideation, brain tumor). Randomization and stratification (tumor stage) was conducted by a computer system. Participants got 10 sessions over 5 weeks, in (a) an NF intervention (n = 21; 13 female, 8 male; MAge = 52.95(10 519); range = 31 to 73 years)) or (b) a mindfulness group therapy as control condition (CG; n = 21; ie, 15 female, 6 male; MAge = 50.33(8708); range = 32 to 67 years)). Outcome parameters included self-reported cognitive impairment (PCI) as primary outcome, and secondary outcomes of emotional distress (DT, PHQ-8, GAD-7), fatigue (MFI-20), rumination (RSQ), quality of life (QoL, EORTC-30 QoL), self-efficacy (GSE), and changes in EEG alpha, and theta-beta band performance in the NF condition.
Results: No changes in cognitive impairment were found ( = .079), neither in NF nor CG. High affective distress was evident, with 70.7% showing elevated distress and 34.1% showing severe depressive symptoms. Affective symptoms of distress ( ≤ .01), depression ( ≤ .05) and generalized anxiety ( ≤ .05) decreased significantly over time. No differences between NF and CG were found. There was a significant increase of the alpha band ( ≤ .05; N = 15) over the NF sessions. Self-efficacy predicted QoL increase in NF with ≤ .001 and an explained variance of 48.2%.
Conclusion: This is the first study to investigate NF technique with regard to basic mechanisms of effectiveness in a sample of cancer patients, compared to an established psycho-oncological intervention in this field. Though there were no changes in cognitive impairment, present data show that NF improves affective symptoms comparably to mindfulness-based therapy and even more pronounced in QoL and self-efficacy.Trial registration: ID: DRKS00015773.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/15347354221149950 | DOI Listing |
Z Evid Fortbild Qual Gesundhwes
January 2025
Institut für Medizinmanagement und Gesundheitswissenschaften (IMG) der Universität Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Deutschland.
Introduction: Unmet health care needs are seen as a key indicator of equity in access to health care. With younger people, they can lead to poorer health outcomes in adulthood, and in older people they can be associated with an increased risk of mortality. The presence of a disability is considered a risk factor for unmet needs.
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Department of Radiology, Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University, 83 Fenyang Road, Shanghai 200031, China (Q.X.). Electronic address:
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View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Intern Med
January 2025
Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Católica Medical School, Sintra, Portugal.
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January 2025
Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address:
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Healthy Brain & Mind Research Centre (HBM), School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, 115 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy, VIC, 3065 Australia.
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