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A digital media attention diversion improves mood and fear in patients receiving chemotherapy for recurrent gynecologic malignancies: results of a randomized trial
  1. Ryan Spencer1,
  2. Vinita Alexander2,
  3. Jens Eickhoff3,
  4. Kaitlin Woo3,
  5. Erin Costanzo4,
  6. Nick Marx5 and
  7. Stephen Rose1
  1. 1Gynecologic Oncology, University of Wisconsin Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
  2. 2Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
  3. 3Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
  4. 4Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
  5. 5Communications Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Ryan Spencer, Gynecologic Oncology, University of Wisconsin Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53792, USA; rjspencer2{at}wisc.edu

Abstract

Background Recurrent gynecologic cancer patients experience symptoms that affect psychologic, emotional, social, and physical well-being. Chemotherapy can further exacerbate these symptoms. Poor mood, pain, and fatigue are linked and are detrimental to quality of life. Interventions targeting these symptoms may improve patient-reported outcomes and performance status.

Objectives To determine the ability of a humorous digital media attention diversion to improve symptom domains of positive and negative mood during chemotherapy for patients with recurrent gynecologic cancers.

Study design This randomized, crossover clinical trial enrolled women with recurrent gynecologic cancers. Subjects participated over three cycles of chemotherapy. The primary outcome was the change in mood on the validated Positive and Negative Affect Scale-Extended (PANAS-X) instrument, which measures positive and negative affect domains. All subjects completed the PANAS-X after receiving chemotherapy during cycle 1 on study. In atudy arm 1, subjects watched their choice of humorous movies on a digital media device while receiving chemotherapy during cycle 2 on study. They selected from non-humorous movies during cycle 3 on study. In arm 2, the order of movies was reversed. After each cycle, mood, fatigue, and other patient-reported outcomes were assessed for comparison with baseline measurements.

Results The target enrollment of 66 subjects was achieved. Subjects watched humorous content for an average of 96.0 min and non-humorous content for an average of 62.5 min. Negative mood improved after exposure to humorous (p=0.017) and non-humorous content (p=0.001). Patient-reported fear also improved after exposure to both humorous (p=0.038) and non-humorous content (p=0.002). Subjects reported higher use of affiliating and self-effacing humor types.

Conclusions Offering patients a choice of digital media during chemotherapy significantly improved negative mood and fear. This was seen with both humorous and non-humorous content. This low-cost and low-risk intervention should be implemented as an attention diversion to improve negative mood and fear for patients receiving chemotherapy.

  • quality of life (PRO)/palliative care

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Footnotes

  • Contributors RS: study conception and design, analysis and interpretation of results, writing and editing manuscript. VA: study design, editing manuscript. JE: study design and statistical analysis. KW: statistical analysis and editing manuscript. EC: study design, interpretation of results, editing manuscript. NM: study design, editing manuscript. SR: study conception and design, analysis and interpretation of results, writing and editing manuscript.

  • Funding The research was supported by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and by the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program, through the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), grant UL1TR002373. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

  • Disclaimer The authors indicated no potential conflicts of interest or financial disclosures. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent for publication Not required.

  • Ethics approval The study was approved by the Human Subjects Committee prior to the research being conducted and all participants provided written informed consent.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

  • Data availability statement Data are available upon reasonable request. Please contact corresponding author for any data requests.