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Does assessing patients' expectancies about chemotherapy side effects influence their occurrence?
Ben Colagiuri1, Haryana Dhillon, Phyllis N Butow
1School of Psychology, Centre for Medical Psychology, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. ben.colagiuri@sydney.edu.au
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
|November 15, 2012
Summary
Asking patients about their chemotherapy side effect expectations does not worsen side effects. Patient expectations predict side effects like nausea and sadness, suggesting a potential intervention point.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Psycho-oncology
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Patient expectancies are increasingly linked to chemotherapy side effects.
- The impact of assessing these expectancies on side effect occurrence is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if assessing pretreatment expectancies influences chemotherapy side effect occurrence or severity.
- To investigate if pretreatment expectancies predict post-treatment side effects.
Main Methods:
- Ninety-one first-time chemotherapy patients were randomized into two groups: one group had expectancies assessed, the other did not.
- All patients reported the occurrence and severity of nausea, fatigue, sadness, and appetite loss after the first chemotherapy cycle.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in side effect occurrence or severity were found between groups.
- Pretreatment expectancies positively correlated with post-treatment reports of nausea, appetite loss, and sadness, controlling for covariates.
Conclusions:
- Assessing patient expectancies for chemotherapy side effects does not appear to increase their occurrence or severity.
- Patient expectancies are predictive of post-treatment side effects and may serve as a target for interventions to reduce patient burden.
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