A study to find out if writing about their experience can help women after surgery for breast cancer

In this study, some women found it helpful to write about their experiences.

In total, 32 women completed the study. 14 women wrote about their experiences of breast cancer treatment, and 18 wrote about what they were doing day to day (the control group).

Talking to the women 3 months later, the team learned more about their experiences of writing and how it affected them.

Many women in the treatment experience group said that writing about their experiences was a relief. And women in both groups found benefit in taking some time out of their normal routine.

Some women in the treatment experience group found that writing forced them to look back and face their cancer experiences, which they would not normally have done. Some said that they have now discussed, or plan to discuss, their feelings with family or professionals. No one in the control group reported this.

Reflection was the main benefit for the control group. Many said that by writing about what they were doing day to day, they could see how far they had come and that they had returned to a normal, or sometimes better, level of coping and activity. The study team was surprised by this as they had not expected the control group to benefit from taking part.

Women in both groups were worried about bringing up the past. Some said they had found this difficult. Others found it useful.

Most of the women who didn’t find the writing helpful were in the control group.

As a result of completing the writing, some women in the treatment experience group have continued to use writing as a way of coping with difficulties. And others in the same group are making the effort to find answers to questions they had about their diagnosis.

The team learned that, if they were to offer this again, timing would be important. Most women thought it would be best to offer writing therapy 2 to 3 months after finishing treatment. But some preferred the idea of writing about their experiences from diagnosis onwards.

Most women felt that giving other patients the chance to write about their experiences would be worthwhile. And the team felt they got some very useful information, which will help them to do more work in this area.

We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. As far as we are aware, the information they sent us has not been reviewed independently (peer reviewed ) or published in a medical journal yet. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.