| Objective:This study intended to investigate PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), anxiety and depression in cervical cancer patients after receiving surgical treatments, and to explore the beneficial effects of the positive psychological intervention including mindfulness and writing gratitude diaries.Methods:This study used randomized controlled design.120 cervical cancer patients were recruited at three grade A tertiary hospitals in Jinan from April 2014 to December 2014. Participants were randomly assigned to the intervention group and the wait-list group. The positive psychological intervention included mindfulness and writing gratitude diaries lasting for four weeks; patients in the wait-list group received routine health education. Questionnaires assessing PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version [PCL-C]), anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS]) were administered before randomization (T1) and 4 weeks after discharge (T2). ANOVA of repeated measures was performed to evaluate the effects of the positive psychological intervention.Results:(1) Totally, ninety-five patients (79.1%) completed the study,49 of them (81.7%) were from the intervention group and 46 patients (76.7%) were from the wait-list group.(2) At T1, PTSD occurred in 23.3% of the cervical cancer patients; twenty-nine patients (24.2%) showed anxiety and twenty-eight patients (23.3%) were indicated with depression. At T2, there were five patients (14.2%) with PTSD, seven patients (14.3%) with depression, and seven patients (14.3%) with anxiety in the intervention group. In the wait-list group, PTSD, anxiety and depression occurred in twelve, twelve, twenty-four patients separately. There was a difference in the incidence of anxiety between groups (x2=15.493, P<0.001) but not within depression and PTSD symptoms (P> 0.05).(3) No differences in scores of PTSD, anxiety and depression were detected at T1 between groups (P>0.05). However, scores assessed at T2 showed that scores of PTSD, anxiety and depression in the intervention group were significantly lower than those of the wait-list group (P<0.05).(4) Scores of PTSD, anxiety and depression significantly decreased in the intervention group (P<0.05).A significant increase in scores of PTSD, anxiety and depression was observed in the wait-list group (P<0.05).(5) A main effect of intervention (P<0.01) and an interactive effect of time and intervention (P<0.001) were observed in the model of PTSD, anxiety and depression using ANOVA of repeated measures.Conclusions:(1) Cervical cancer patients were with PTSD (23.3%), depression (24.2%) and anxiety (23.3%) symptoms after receiving surgeries.(2) Positive psychological interventions had an obvious effect in improving negative emotion including PTSD, anxiety and depression among cervical cancer patients. |
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