Clinically relevant but not statistically significant improvement seen in anxiety and fatigue versus usual services
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, June 2, 2025 (HealthDay News) — A culturally tailored intervention for Latina breast cancer survivors (BCSs) yields clinically relevant but not statistically significant improvement in anxiety and fatigue compared with usual services, according to a study published online June 2 in Cancer.
Katarina E. AuBuchon, Ph.D., from the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and colleagues randomly assigned 136 Latina BCSs and 136 caregivers to an eight-session culturally tailored coping and communication intervention or usual care support services via community-based organizations (70 and 66 dyads, respectively) in a preliminary randomized controlled trial. At baseline, immediately postintervention, and six months postintervention, quality-of-life domains were measured.
Overall, 50 (71.4 percent) of the dyads in the intervention attended five or more sessions, demonstrating high engagement; at six months, 82 percent of participants were retained. The researchers found that at six months postintervention, there were clinically significant improvements in Latina BCSs’ reports of anxiety and fatigue compared with BCSs in usual care. After adjustment for multiple comparisons, however, the results were no longer statistically significant.
“We demonstrated a proof of concept for this culturally responsive intervention to improve quality of life for BCSs, with strong engagement of caregivers and community organizations,” the authors write. “Although our intervention did not reach statistical significance over usual services, the clinical improvements in anxiety and fatigue and the high engagement suggest that future replication and evaluation are warranted.”
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