Treatment of Depressive Symptoms in Breast Cancer Patients: Comparison of Cognitive Therapy and Bright Light Therapy

May 9, 2016 updated by: Josée Savard, CHU de Quebec-Universite Laval
Depressive symptoms are highly frequent among cancer patients. These symptoms significantly impair quality of life (e.g., hopelessness, greater risk of suicidal behaviours) and may even affect patients' prognosis (e.g., through decreased adherence to cancer treatments). Cognitive therapy (CT) is an established treatment for depression in the general population, but its efficacy has not yet been investigated in non-metastatic cancer patients. Furthermore, because the accessibility to CT is very limited in routine cancer care and because many patients are reluctant to use pharmacological treatment, they often turn to alternative treatments such as bright light therapy (BLT), but empirical data on its efficacy are needed before its use can be recommended. Goal 1: To assess at post-treatment, as compared to a waiting-list control condition, the effect of bright light therapy (BLT) and cognitive therapy (CT): (1a) in reducing depressive symptoms; and (1b) in improving subjective and objective sleep parameters, in reducing fatigue and anxiety and in increasing patients' functioning and quality of life. Goal 2: To compare at post-treatment and at 3- and 6-month follow-ups the effect of BLT and CT : (2a) in reducing depressive symptoms; and (2b) in improving subjective and objective parameters of sleep, in reducing fatigue and anxiety and in increasing patients' functioning and quality of life. It is hypothesized that, As compared to control patients after their waiting period, both BLT and CT groups will have significantly greater improvement of all symptoms at post-treatment. However, as compared to BLT patients, CT patients will show greater improvements of all symptoms at post-treatment and at 3- and 6-month follow-ups. This study will provide empirical data on the efficacy of two approaches for treating depressive symptoms in cancer patients in order to better inform the scientific community, health care providers, and patients on the most effective depression treatments to implement in cancer care.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

62

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Quebec
      • Québec, Quebec, Canada, G1R 2J6
        • L'Hôtel-Dieu de Québec

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 75 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • having received a diagnosis for a stage I-III cancer within the past 18 months;
  • having a score of 7 or higher on the depression subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D)84 or of 14 or higher on the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II);

Exclusion Criteria:

  • have received bright light therapy in the past month or having previously received cognitive therapy for depression;
  • having severe cognitive impairments (e.g., diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, dementia, or Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE] score < 27);
  • meeting DSM-IV criteria for a major depressive episode of severe intensity, or another severe psychiatric disorder (e.g., psychotic, bipolar, or substance use disorder);
  • presenting suicidal ideations with a risk of acting out, or having attempted suicide in the past five years;
  • having started a new psychotropic medication or having modified the dosage or frequency of use during the past two weeks;
  • currently taking a photosensitive medication (e.g., lithium, L-tryptophan);
  • having evidence of an ocular pathology from an optometrist exam or a medical condition contraindicating the use of bright light therapy (e.g., severe cataracts, glaucoma, diabetes).

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Cognitive therapy of depression
Behavioral: Cognitive therapy of depression
Cognitive therapy will involve eight individual weekly sessions of 50 minutes with a Ph.D. student in psychology.
EXPERIMENTAL: Bright light therapy
Behavioral: Bright light therapy
Bright light therapy will consist of a 30-min daily morning exposition to a 10 000-lux BLT lamp during 8 weeks.
NO_INTERVENTION: Waiting list

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Changes in depressive symptoms
Time Frame: Pre-treatment (at recruitment; about 2 weeks before starting the experimental condition of 8 weeks), post-treatment (immediately after the experimental condition of 8 weeks), 3-month follow-up and 6-month follow-up
Pre-treatment (at recruitment; about 2 weeks before starting the experimental condition of 8 weeks), post-treatment (immediately after the experimental condition of 8 weeks), 3-month follow-up and 6-month follow-up

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Changes in subjective and objective parameters of sleep
Time Frame: Pre-treatment (at recruitment; about 2 weeks before starting the experimental condition of 8 weeks), post-treatment (immediately after the experimental condition of 8 weeks), 3-month follow-up and 6-month follow-up
Pre-treatment (at recruitment; about 2 weeks before starting the experimental condition of 8 weeks), post-treatment (immediately after the experimental condition of 8 weeks), 3-month follow-up and 6-month follow-up
Changes in fatigue
Time Frame: Pre-treatment (at recruitment; about 2 weeks before starting the experimental condition of 8 weeks), post-treatment (immediately after the experimental condition of 8 weeks), 3-month follow-up and 6-month follow-up
Pre-treatment (at recruitment; about 2 weeks before starting the experimental condition of 8 weeks), post-treatment (immediately after the experimental condition of 8 weeks), 3-month follow-up and 6-month follow-up
Changes in anxiety
Time Frame: Pre-treatment (at recruitment; about 2 weeks before starting the experimental condition of 8 weeks), post-treatment (immediately after the experimental condition of 8 weeks), 3-month follow-up and 6-month follow-up
Pre-treatment (at recruitment; about 2 weeks before starting the experimental condition of 8 weeks), post-treatment (immediately after the experimental condition of 8 weeks), 3-month follow-up and 6-month follow-up
Changes in quality of life
Time Frame: Pre-treatment (at recruitment; about 2 weeks before starting the experimental condition of 8 weeks), post-treatment (immediately after the experimental condition of 8 weeks), 3-month follow-up and 6-month follow-up
Pre-treatment (at recruitment; about 2 weeks before starting the experimental condition of 8 weeks), post-treatment (immediately after the experimental condition of 8 weeks), 3-month follow-up and 6-month follow-up

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

CHU de Quebec-Universite Laval

Collaborators

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Investigators

  • Study Director: Josée Savard, Ph.D., Laval University Cancer Research Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

September 1, 2011

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

February 1, 2015

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

February 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 18, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 6, 2012

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

July 10, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE)

May 10, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 9, 2016

Last Verified

May 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • H10-12-123

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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