Psychological benefits of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program after breast cancer

Background :
Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer in women, affecting 8 women out of 100. With early detection and improved treatments, the number of deaths linked to this disease has declined. However, the disease and its treatments are at the origin of many undesirable side effects such as fatigue, anxiety, weight gain and sleep disorders. The objective of this study is to determine the psychological benefits of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program among women treated for breast cancer (on average six months after the end of the adjuvant radiotherapy or chimiotherapy).

Material and methods :
122 patients were included into a control group (n = 61) and a treated group (n = 61). All participants were submitted to evaluations before the beginning of the trial and after three months. These evaluations included different questionnaires exploring the quality of life, anxiety, depression and various functions and other symptoms related to cancer (EORTC QLQ-C30, EQ-5D, STAI, HADS) and functional assessments. The control group has received no intervention unlike the treated group that received a three-month rehabilitation including supervised physical training (90 min) with three times a week and various psycho-educational sessions (120 min) once a week.

Results :
After three months, the health status (quality of life) (p < 0,0001), the functional role (p = 0,031), emotional state (p < 0,0001) and physical (p = 0,0045), cognitive (p = 0,0027) and social functions (p = 0,0018) improve significantly in the treated group. This observation also applies to symptoms of fatigue (p < 0,0001), insomnia (p < 0,0001), pain (p = 0,002), dyspnea (p = 0,009), loss of appetite (p = 0,04), anxiety (p < 0,0001) and depression (p < 0,0001) as well as physical parameters obtained through functional assessments. In the control group, these improvements do not appear.

Conclusions :
This study shows the feasibility and psychological benefits of such a multidisciplinary oncological rehabilitation program in women after their treatments for breast cancer. Additional studies are needed to know the optimal time of beginning (during treatments or after them) and the optimal management time for this support.