Background

A cancer diagnosis can cause severe emotional distress and affect quality of life as well as social relationships. The transition from inpatient to outpatient treatment is burdened by stressful uncertainties and a gap of psycho-oncological care. In addition, further barriers, such as information deficits or fear of stigmatization, might hinder cancer patients to use psycho-oncological face-to-face interventions. Online interventions can be a low-threshold adjunct to existing face-to-face services. This study aims to evaluate the effect of the online self-help program epos (emotion-based psycho-oncological online self-help) on improving symptoms of anxiety and depression in German-speaking cancer patients.

Methods

A randomized controlled trial (RCT) is carried out in a parallel group design. N = 325 patients will be enrolled in the trial, randomly assigned to an intervention and a control group. While the intervention group has access to nine modules of epos, the control group gets access to an informational website. Participants will complete online questionnaires at baseline (T0), after the intervention (T1) and three-month follow-up (T2). Primary outcome is a combined measure of depression and anxiety. Secondary outcomes include psychological distress, anxiety, depression, quality of life, emotional control, posttraumatic growth, and satisfaction with epos. Participants are at least 18 years old, have a cancer diagnosis, currently receive cancer treatment or aftercare, have sufficient German language competence, and have access to the Internet. Exclusion criteria are severe mental comorbidities (i.e. severe depression, suicidality) or somatic comorbidities (i.e. visual disabilities).

Discussion

The results of this study will provide information about acceptability, feasibility, and efficacy of epos in improving symptoms of depression and anxiety in cancer patients and thus contribute to the research on web-based interventions. If found efficacious, epos will improve psycho-oncological care in cancer patients in transition from inpatient to outpatient care and in those who struggle to find adequate psycho-oncological support due to other (perceived) barriers.

中文翻译：

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减少癌症患者焦虑和抑郁的基于情绪的在线干预：随机对照试验的研究方案

背景

癌症诊断会导致严重的情绪困扰并影响生活质量以及社会关系。从住院治疗到门诊治疗的过渡受到压力不确定性和心理肿瘤护理差距的影响。此外，进一步的障碍，例如信息缺陷或对污名化的恐惧，可能会阻碍癌症患者使用心理-肿瘤学面对面干预。在线干预可以成为现有面对面服务的低门槛辅助手段。本研究旨在评估在线自助计划epos（基于情感的心理肿瘤在线自助）对改善德语癌症患者焦虑和抑郁症状的效果。

方法

随机对照试验（RCT）以平行组设计进行。N  = 325 名患者将参加试验，随机分配到干预组和对照组。干预组可以访问epos的九个模块，而对照组可以访问一个信息网站。参与者将在基线 (T0)、干预后 (T1) 和三个月的随访 (T2) 完成在线问卷调查。主要结果是抑郁和焦虑的综合测量。次要结果包括心理困扰、焦虑、抑郁、生活质量、情绪控制、创伤后成长和对epos的满意度. 参与者至少年满 18 岁，有癌症诊断，目前正在接受癌症治疗或后期护理，有足够的德语能力，并且可以访问互联网。排除标准是严重的精神合并症（即严重抑郁、自杀）或躯体合并症（即视力障碍）。

讨论

这项研究的结果将提供有关epos在改善癌症患者抑郁和焦虑症状方面的可接受性、可行性和有效性的信息，从而有助于基于网络的干预措施的研究。如果发现有效，epos将改善从住院到门诊护理过渡的癌症患者以及由于其他（感知的）障碍而难以找到足够的心理肿瘤支持的患者的心理肿瘤护理。