Group-based body psychotherapy improves appreciation of body awareness in post-treatment cancer patients: A non-randomized clinical trial.

Cancer-related impairments often co-occur with bodily disturbances. Body psychotherapy (BPT) can improve bodily wellbeing, yet evidence in cancer survivors is scarce. Hence, we aimed to evaluate whether blended group BPT alleviates bodily disturbances in post-treatment cancer patients. We conducted a bi-center study (registered in ClinicalTrials.gov, under No. NCT03707548), applying a pre-post convergent parallel design of weekly group BPT interspersed with smartphone-based ambulatory interventions using a waiting-period comparator. We included patients with completed curatively intended treatment for malignant neoplasms, suffering from bodily disturbances. The primary outcome was body image disturbances. Secondary outcomes were experiencing and appreciating body awareness, mental wellbeing, and health-related quality of life. Forty patients (mean age 51.7 years) attended group BPT. Mixed-effect linear regression models contrasting intervention with the waiting period did not show statistically significant differences regarding the primary outcome [Pre-post difference contrasts: 1.44, 95% confidence interval (CI): -1.51 to 4.93, We found no evidence that blended group BPT was effective in improving body image disturbances in post-treatment cancer patients, but found indications for an increase in body awareness appreciation. ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT03707548.

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Copyright © 2023 Grossert, Meffert, Hess, Rochlitz, Pless, Hunziker, Wössmer, Geuter, Meinlschmidt and Schaefert.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

GM and RS received funding from the Stanley Thomas Johnson Stiftung and Gottfried und Julia Bangerter-Rhyner-Stiftung under project no. PC 28/17 and PC 05/18, from Gesundheitsförderung Schweiz under project no. 18.191/K50001, and in the context of a Horizon Europe project by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) under contract no. 22.00094. In addition, GM and RS received funding from Wings Health Inc. as part of a proof-of-concept study. GM received funding from the Research Foundation of the International Psychoanalytic University (IPU) Berlin under project no. 5087 & 5217, from the Swiss Heart Foundation under project no. FF21101, from the Hasler Foundation under project no. 23004, and from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) under project no. 100014_135328. RS received funding from the Köhler Stiftung under project no. SO112/10209/16. GM is co-founder, member of the board and holds stock in Therayou AG, which is active in the field of digital and blended mental health care. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.