Badger, T., Segrin, C., Dorros, S.M., Meek, P., & Lopez, A.M. (2007). Depression and anxiety in women with breast cancer and their partners. Nursing Research, 56, 44–53.
This intervention provided telephone-delivered psychosocial interventions. One group received six weeks of telephone-delivered counseling (TIP-C) sessions based on interpersonal psychotherapy/counseling principles, covering the following topics.
The phone calls averaged 34 minutes. Another group received six weeks of telephone-delivered, self-managed exercise protocol information. The exercise protocol consisted of engaging in regular, low-impact exercise (e.g., walking for a prescribed number of minutes at least four times per week). These phone calls averaged 11 minutes. The third group received six weeks of attention control (AC) printed information about breast cancer with brief weekly phone calls averaging 7 minutes. This group did not receive counseling or encouragement to exercise.
A convenience sample was used.
Data were collected at baseline (T1), one week after final call (T2), and one month after final call (T3).
The study used a three-wave repeated measures design with a between-subjects factor (treatment group).
Results showed mixed-model ANOVA significant effect for time (p = 0.001), no significant main effect for treatment group, and significant group x time interaction (p = 0.01).
Both telephone counseling and exercise conditions helped to reduce anxiety in women and their partners, with significant differences (p < 0.001). The AC group did not evidence the same improvement in decreased anxiety, and their partners’ anxiety scores increased.