Clinical trial · Interventional
Expressive Writing in Improving Quality of Life in Patients With Breast Cancer and Lymphedema
Effects of Expressive Writing in Breast Cancer Survivors With Lymphedema
NCT00679185CI-TRIAL-00026881completedN/AClinicalTrials.gov clinicaltrialsProvenance
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
RATIONALE: Expressive writing may help relieve symptoms and improve quality of life in breast cancer survivors with chronic lymphedema. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying expressive writing in improving the quality of life in women with breast cancer and lymphedema.
Conditions
Conditions (3)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breast Cancer | Malignant Breast Neoplasm | CURATED_EXACT | 0.92 |
| Fatigue | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Lymphedema | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (1)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| expressive writing | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Experimental-EW
- description
- four emotion focused writing assignments
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: expressive writing
- type
- ACTIVE_COMPARATOR
- label
- control group
- description
- non-emotional writing control
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: expressive writing
Primary outcomes (5)
- measure
- Physical and psychological symptoms
- timeFrame
- 6 months
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- Female
- Minimum age
- 21 Years
- Maximum age
- 80 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
* Women who have undergone prior surgery and/or radiotherapy for breast cancer
* No metastatic disease
* Must have lymphedema, meeting the following conditions:
* Stage II disease
* Swelling unrelieved by elevation, arm may be hard, may not pit with pressure, or skin changes have taken place
* Received prior professional treatment for lymphedema
* Requires life-long, at home self-care (e.g., compression sleeves)
* No history of bilateral lymphedema prohibiting extracellular fluid comparison to an unaffected limb
PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
Inclusion criteria:
* Able to read, write (for 20 minutes), and speak English
* Willing and able to drive to the study site or agree to be seen in an outpatient setting (e.g., private therapist office, outpatient clinic, physicians office, or own home) once
Exclusion criteria:
* Has medical condition that could cause edema, including any of the following:
* Symptomatic congestive heart failure
* Chronic/acute renal disease
* Cor pulmonale
* Nephrotic syndrome
* Nephrosis
* Liver failure
* Cirrhosis
* Pregnant or expect to become pregnant during course of the study
* Unable to stand upright for measurement of height and weight
* Has a metal implant, internal defibrillator, or pacemakers
* History of suicide attempts
* No recent suicidal ideation (within last 6 months)
PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
* See Disease Characteristics
* No concurrent intravenous chemotherapy or radiotherapy for active cancer
* No concurrent antipsychotic medication (i.e., haldol, thorazine, stelazine)References
Publications (1)
- RESULTRidner SH, Bonner CM, Deng J, Sinclair VG. Voices from the shadows: living with lymphedema. Cancer Nurs. 2012 Jan-Feb;35(1):E18-26. doi: 10.1097/NCC.0b013e31821404c0. PMID 21558848