Mindfulness Intervention to Improve Symptomology Among Cancer Survivors; Focus on Sleep and Stress Improvement
Mindfulness Intervention to Improve Symptomology Among Cancer Survivors; Focus on Sleep and Stress Improvement
Mindfulness has been shown to help stress, fatigue, sleep complaints, and other symptoms but has not been extensively studied in cancer survivors. This study will enroll cancer survivors at the Greenville Health System Cancer Institute Center for Integrative Oncology and Survivorship to undergo the Mindfulness Based Cancer Survivorship (MBCS) four-week program, with assessments before, immediately after, and three months after the intervention. Results of the study will be used to develop new care models that improve cancer survivor stress and symptoms using mindfulness.
Cancer survivors suffer with stress, fatigue, sleep complaints, pain, and many other adverse health effects. Chronic stress is detrimental to quality of life and, potentially, length of survival among cancer survivors. Mindfulness-Based Cancer Survivorship (MBCS) is a four-week standardized mindfulness program, adapted for cancer survivors from Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). MBCS teaches formal mindfulness practice (meditation) and informal mindfulness during daily activities. Mindfulness has been shown to help stress, fatigue, sleep complaints, and other symptoms but has not been extensively studied in cancer survivors. This study will enroll cancer survivors at the Greenville Health System Cancer Institute Center for Integrative Oncology and Survivorship to undergo the MBCS four-week mindfulness program, with assessments before, immediately after, and three months after the intervention. The assessments will include 1) questionnaires to measure lifestyle, stress, meditation habits, and sleep impairment, 2) blood tests to measure various biomarkers (e.g., inflammatory cytokines), 3) using a BodyMedia's Sensewear® armband for a week to measure sleep and physical activity, and 4) salivary cortisol levels. The forty participants will be randomized to either the intervention arm, the four-week MBCS mindfulness program, or the control arm, a brief control/breathing course. After the three month post assessment, participants in the control arm will have the opportunity to take the MBCS course. Results of the study will be used to develop new care models that improve cancer survivor stress and symptoms using mindfulness.
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria: