Effects of coping style and relaxation on cancer chemotherapy side effects and emotional responses

This study was designed to determine (a) the relationship of coping style to cancer chemotherapy side effects and (b) whether coping style moderated the impact of a relaxation intervention on anxiety, depression, and nausea associated with chemotherapy. Forty-eight cancer patients were assigned randomly to receive either progressive muscle relaxation training before chemotherapy (experimental group) or standard care (control group). Spearman correlations indicated that a "blunting" or distraction-oriented coping style was associated with less anticipatory anxiety, less depression, and less nausea during and after chemotherapy. Spearman correlations also indicated that a "monitoring" or information-gathering coping style was associated with more anticipatory anxiety, and more nausea before and during chemotherapy. Although there was a significant effect of the relaxation intervention on posttreatment nausea, there were no other between-group differences. The results did suggest, however, that relaxation was effective in reducing anticipatory anxiety among "blunters," but not "monitors," perhaps because relaxation is a distraction strategy and therefore is consistent with a blunting coping style. The effects of coping and relaxation on pretreatment anxiety may have important implications, because anxiety is a key factor in classic conditioning models of anticipatory nausea and vomiting.