Table 3.
Summary of scores on QOL at less than 6 months post-intervention for selected RCTs
| Authors | Questionnaires | Global QOL | BCS | Physical | Emotional (psychological) | Social | Functional | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intervention | Control | Intervention | Control | Intervention | Control | Intervention | Control | Intervention | Control | Intervention | Control | ||
| Mean (SD) |
Mean (SD) |
Mean (SD) |
Mean (SD) |
Mean (SD) |
Mean (SD) |
Mean (SD) |
Mean (SD) |
Mean (SD) |
Mean (SD) |
Mean (SD) |
Mean (SD) |
||
| Sandgren [20]a | FACT-B |
77.6 (12.7) |
77.6 (10.9) |
67.2 (18.1) |
65.9 (15.9) |
80.5 (18.9) |
80.1 (14.8) |
84.5 (16.0) |
82.6 (14.0) |
75.8 (10.7) |
77.3 (10.9) |
80.6 (18.9) |
83.0 (14.8) |
| Meneses [18]b | QOL-BC |
71.7 (13.1) |
69.0 (13.1) |
81.8 (16.7) |
80.3 (16.7) |
67.5 (15.6) |
62.0 (15.6) |
73.5 (19.8) |
71.0 (19.8) |
||||
| Beatty [15] | EORTC QLQ C30 |
69.0 (13.6) |
72.2 (13.6) |
||||||||||
| Gustafson [21] | FACT-B |
67.6 (18.2) |
64.7 (18.2) |
76.3 (12.6) |
75.3 (12.6) |
75.8 (18.7) |
74.7 (18.7) |
70.4 (23.0) |
69.9 (23.0) |
||||
| Sandgren [20]a | FACT-B |
79.0 (11.4) |
77.6 (10.9) |
69.5 (15.1) |
65.9 (15.9) |
79.6 (18.8) |
80.0 (14.8) |
84.8 (15.6) |
82.6 (14.0) |
77.3 (12.1) |
77.3 (10.9) |
83.5 (18.8) |
83.0 (14.8) |
| Owen [19] | FACT-B |
59.9 (7.3) |
57.6 (8.0) |
70.8 (13.3) |
66.4 (17.5) |
59.4 (9.4) |
55.1 (13.0) |
||||||
| Gellaitry [17] | FACT-B |
76.1 (13.8) |
75.0 (14.8) |
||||||||||
| Salzer [16]b | FACT-B |
70.5 (14.5) |
76.9 (14.5) |
||||||||||
| Cousson-Gelie [14] | EORTC QLQ C30 |
68.1 (16.1) |
69.4 (17.6) |
82.0 (15.8) |
86.6 (13.2) |
74.2 (19.8) |
83.9 (18.5) |
82.6 (21.4) |
90.7 (18.1) |
||||
All scale scores linearly transformed to a 0–100 scale, with higher scores indicating more positive outcomes
EORTC QLQ-C30 European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Questionnaire, FACT-B Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Breast, QOL-BC Quality of Life–Breast Cancer Survivors, Global QOL FACT-B; FACT-B total, QOL-BC; Overall QOL, EORTC QLQ C30; Global, BCS breast cancer symptoms
aThis study compared separately the effectiveness of health education and emotional expression interventions to that of standard care
bThe standard deviation (SD) was taken from “Reliability and validity of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast quality-of-life instrument” [23] or “Quality of life in long-term cancer survivors”[24]