Key study - Bridge et al.

health psychology, stress

aim

Investigate the effectiveness of relaxation and imagery on the levels of stress in women undergoing cancer treatment

sample

• 139 women (under 70 years) undergoing cancer treatment 

  • 6 weeks long radiotherapy

  • a hospital in London

procedure - self reports

• done before and after treatment:

  • Leeds General Scale for the Self-Assessment of Depression and Anxiety: (severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms) 

  • The Profile of Mood States questionnaire (tension, depression, vigour, fatigue, anger and confusion)

    • 65 item questionnaire 

procedure - randomised control trial

• Control: women talked about themselves

• Relaxation group: taught relaxation techniques (diaphragmatic breathing and muscle relaxation)

• Relaxation + imagery group: taught relaxation techniques (diaphragmatic breathing and muscle relaxation). Also taught to imagine a ‘peaceful scene’ to help increase relaxation. 

→ Sessions lasted 30 min

→ Experimental groups given audio tapes (repeated relaxation instructions), practise at home

• Women told the study was on ways to reduce stress

• Researchers ensured that not participating wouldn’t have an effect on their treatment (ethics)

results

• No significant differences were found between the 3 groups in terms of mood on the initial questionnaire scores.

• At 6 weeks: 

  • improved mood for experimental and worse for control

  • relaxation + imagery most relaxed

  • best results in older women

• Women who scored high in anger in initial assessments, didn’t respond as well to relaxation and imagery compared to those with lower anger levels.

conclusions

• Relaxation + imagery effective at reducing mood disturbance. 

• Mood disturbances worsen in patients with no intervention. 

• The treatments may be more effective in older women

  • can focus on intervention better (less likely to be working or have young children)

evaluation

free will: free will to manage low mood during cancer treatment. demonstrates that mental wellbeing doesn’t need to be determined by the treatments people are receiving but their attitudes towards managing this treatment. 

nurture: management of stress using this therapy supports nurture since they ignore the biological explanation of stress and therefore the biological treatments aren’t considered. For example, anti-anxiety medication is one of the most widely used treatments for stress. 

applications to everyday life: relaxation techniques were found to be effective in reducing tension and depression in older women. this means the intervention could be targeted at these women who are most likely to benefit and they will have reduced stress.

situational: looked at women in the same situation (cancer treatment) but didn’t look at the individual factors affecting relaxation and stress → family support etc.