Schjolberg, T.K., Dodd, M., Henriksen, N., Asplund, K., Cvancarova Småstuen, M., & Rustoen, T. (2014). Effects of an educational intervention for managing fatigue in women with early stage breast cancer. European Journal of Oncology Nursing, 18, 286–294.
To evaluate the effectiveness of a three-week educational intervention on patients' levels of fatigue
The intervention was comprised of a printed educational package that contained basic information about fatigue with three face-to-face two-hour sessions once a week that were tailored to the specific needs of the patient groups. The control group received no educational sessions. They did receive standard face-to-face care provided by a healthcare provider in an outpatient clinic. Study measures were obtained at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and at three months.
Randomized, controlled trial
This study demonstrated no statistically significant differences between groups or within groups for any fatigue measures.
More research is needed to identify important variables that might affect the experience of fatigue as well as the effectiveness of the type of psychoeducational interventions in women with breast cancer.
A standardized psychoeducational intervention alone may not be sufficient to affect the experience of fatigue among women with breast cancer. Nurses can use the critique of the methods and instruments used and learn about reasons for withdrawing/not completing interventions/evaluations by research subjects to apply to future studies.