"New technologies open new opportunities. With this intervention we can deliver much needed psychological support in the comfort of the patients' living rooms or other favorite Wi-Fi spots. It seems that patients and psychologists can still form a therapeutic bond through this online contact," said Dr. Hess.
About the Study
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Within 12 weeks of starting cancer treatment, 129 patients were assigned to either the STREAM intervention group or the control group. The majority of participants were women with early-stage breast cancer, although the study also included patients with lung, ovarian, and gastrointestinal cancers, as well as those with lymphoma and melanoma.
In both groups, the researchers used validated scales to measure quality of life (FACIT-F), distress (DT), and anxiety/depression (HADS) at study entry and two months after the intervention. They predefined a nine-point difference in the FACIT-F score as a clinically meaningful improvement in quality of life. The DT scale is routinely used to screen for distress in patients with cancer. A score of 0-4 is considered low distress, whereas 5-10 is considered high distress. The control group did not receive psychological support during the first two months of enrolling in the study.
Key Findings
At two months, patients in the intervention group had a greater improvement in quality of life than patients in the control group ? the mean FACIT-F score increased by a mean of 8.59 points more in the intervention group than in the control group. The distress score decreased from 6 to 4 points in the intervention group but stayed the same (6 points) in the control group. There were no significant differences in anxiety or depression between the two groups.
The control group began STREAM after a two-month wait period. The researchers will report on the efficacy of such delayed intervention during the ASCO Annual Meeting.
Next Steps
To make this intervention accessible to more patients, the researchers have plans to translate it into other languages (it is currently available only in German) and develop online programs where psychologists can be trained to use it.
"I think online psychological support will be much more important in the years to come, as the digital generation reaches the age when they are at higher risk of cancer. For them, it will be natural to use such online tools and communicate without face-to-face interaction, and so now is the time to standardize and validate the tools," said Dr. Hess.
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