Effect of the solution-focused brief therapy on cancer-related fatigue in breast cancer patients under adjuvant chemotherapy: a randomized trial

Abstract

Background: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a severe symptom in breast cancer survivors. We aimed to explore the effects of the solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) on CRF in breast cancer patients after lumpectomy or mastectomy under adjuvant chemotherapy.Methods: First, 196 patients with primarily diagnosed breast cancer were recruited, screened, and the qualified 160 patients were randomly assigned into the control (routine nursing interventions), and intervention (routine nursing interventions and SFBT) groups. CRF was evaluated using the Chinese version of revised Piper Fatigue Scale. Data were collected at baseline (T1), post-intervention (T2), and post-followup (T3).Results: Mild to severe fatigue existed in all qualified participants at T1 and the fatigue symptom went worse with the chemotherapy in control group. In intervention group, the fatigue level decreased at T2 (P<0.05), and went to the similar level at T3 as that at T1. The levels of behavioral, affective, and sensory fatigues in the control group significantly increased at T3 (P<0.05), while no difference was found in the intervention group. This study showed that SFBT effectively decreased CRF in breast cancer survivors after surgery under adjuvant chemotherapy.Conclusions: Hence, SFBT might be a beneficial non-pharmacological intervention alone or in combination with other interventions to improve patients' quality of life.

Effect of mindfulness yoga on anxiety and depression in early breast cancer patients received adjuvant chemotherapy: a randomized clinical trial

“…Secondary outcomes included (1) severity of fatigue symptoms, as measured by the Chinese version of the validated Piper fatigue assessment scale (Piper et al 1998 ; So et al 2003 ) (RPFS-CV), which contains four dimensions of fatigue assessment: behavioral, emotional, perceptual, and cognitive. This scale is a commonly used multidimensional fatigue self-assessment tool in cancer research (Liu et al 2020 ). (2) Measured by the validated Chinese version of the brief pain inventory (BPI-C) (Wang et al 1996 ), which is the most commonly used assessment scale in measuring the severity of pain symptoms in cancer patients.…”

Effect of online solution-focused counseling on the sexual quality of life of women with a history of breast cancer: a clinical trial

“…The similarity between that study and our study was the holding of eight 90-min sexual health counseling sessions and a 1-month follow-up period; the differences between that study and the present study are that their counseling sessions were in person or face-to-face and there was no control group in that study. The results of Liu et al’s clinical trial, that investigated the effect of solution-focused treatment on cancer fatigue in women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy, showed that the level of cancer-induced fatigue during the course of chemotherapy following the use of solution-focused counseling decreased compared to before the intervention, or its increase has been less compared to the control group [ 37 ]. In this study, the mean score of fatigue caused by cancer in the intervention group decreased from 4.34 ± 0.83 before the intervention to 3.24 ± 0.74 after the intervention ( P = 0.023).…”