Bridge et al. (1988)

Question 1

What did Maguire find about people diagnosed with cancer?

Answer 1

People feared losing “their health, their role and their life”.

Question 2

What did Simonton and Simonton (1975) find out about relaxation imagery and cancer?

Answer 2

Previous research suggests that positive thought and guided imagery can prolong life in cancer patients.

Question 3

Aims/hypotheses

Answer 3

To see whether stress could be reduced in patients diagnosed with early breast cancer and receiving radiotherapy.

Women receiving relaxation training with an imagery component would show less stress than women given relaxation training alone.

Question 4

Method

Answer 4

Randomised control trial using questionnaires.

Question 5

Participants

Answer 5

• 139 women with breast cancer.
• Under 70 years-old (average age of 53).
• Treated by mastectomy or lumpectomy.
• Attending 6-week radiotherapy outpatient treatment at a London hospital, UK.

Question 6

Leeds General Scale

Answer 6

Self-report questionnaire that measures the severity of anxiety/depressive symptoms for those who are not formally diagnosed.

Scale has 6 items each for anxiety and depression, each rated on a 4-point scale.

Question 7

Profile of Mood States Questionnaire

Answer 7

Self-report questionnaire that uses 65 items to give scores across several aspects such as tension, fatigue, anger and confusion, resulting in a total mood disturbance score.

Question 8

What were the 3 conditions ppts were split into?

Answer 8

• Control group
• Relaxation group
• Relaxation and imagery group

Question 9

Control group

Answer 9

No treatment.

Question 10

Relaxation group

Answer 10

Taught deep breathing and directing sensory awareness to muscle groups to tighten and relax.

Question 11

Relaxation and imagery group

Answer 11

Taught deep breathing, directing sensory awareness to muscles groups to tighten/relax and taught to imagine a peaceful scene.

Question 12

How were ppts assigned to conditions?

Answer 12

They were randomly assigned to 1/3 conditions.

Question 13

What were ppts asked to do at the beginning of the study?

Answer 13

Fill in the Profile of Mood States questionnaire and the Leeds General Scale.

Question 14

How long did sessions last?

Answer 14

30 minutes.

Question 15

When were women asked to fill out the initial questionnaires again?

Answer 15

After the 6-week programme.

Question 16

How did the treatment groups practice at home?

Answer 16

They received audio tapes which repeated the other instructions.

Question 17

What was there no significant difference between?

Answer 17

Groups on their initial questionnaire scores.

Question 18

When did results start to differ?

Answer 18

Once researchers divided women into under-54 and over-54 groups.

Question 19

Which group did the total mood state disturbance worsen in?

Answer 19

The control group.

Question 20

Conclusions

Answer 20

• Relaxation combined with imagery is effective at reducing mood disturbances.
• Mood disturbances worsen in patients with no intervention.
• Intervention is more effective in older women with more time to focus on the techniques (less likely to be working, caring for kids etc.).

Question 21

Strengths

Answer 21

• Sample = reasonable size to generalise from, illnesses were the same so stage of illness could be ruled out as a confounding variable.
• Validity = randomly allocated to each condition reduces ppt bias. Also control group was used.
• Quantitative data = questionnaire data is easy to statistically analyse and compare.
• RWA = can help patients to cope better with their illness and treatment.

Question 22

Criticisms

Answer 22

• Gender bias = sample only used women with breast cancer so can’t be generalised.
• Lack of qualitative data = no opportunity to collect detailed feelings/experiences from the women.
• Low validity = social desirability bias may have interferred.
• Unethical = control group not treated by researchers, causing their mood to worsen.