Quality of Life Interventions During Cervical Cancer Treatment

Experimental: Relaxation training following daily radiation

All relaxation sessions will be given individually, and will be provided by trained nurses or research assistants. Patients receiving relaxation will learn exercises to release tension through muscle relaxation, breathing, and imagery

Sonstiges: Fragebogenverwaltung

Verhalten: Relaxation training

Muscle relaxation training

Andere Namen:

• Entspannung

Sonstiges: Ancillary studies

Subjects in all groups will give 4 blood samples during the study

Andere Namen:

• Blutabnahme

Experimental: Healing touch therapy following daily radiation

All Healing Touch sessions will be given individually, and will be provided by trained nurses or research assistants. Patients receiving Healing Touch will receive a series of standardized therapeutic techniques designed to promote optimal flow of energy throughout the body.

Sonstiges: Fragebogenverwaltung

Sonstiges: Ancillary studies

Subjects in all groups will give 4 blood samples during the study

Andere Namen:

• Blutabnahme

Verhalten: Therapeutic touch

Healing Touch (HT) therapy

Andere Namen:

• Heilende Berührung

Aktiver Komparator: No intervention

The no intervention group will receive no special intervention other than standard medical care, which includes the regular medical care given by the patient's physician and health care professionals.

Sonstiges: Fragebogenverwaltung

Sonstiges: Ancillary studies

Subjects in all groups will give 4 blood samples during the study

Andere Namen:

• Blutabnahme

Change in natural killer cell cytotoxicity (NKCC)

Compare change in natural killer cell cytotoxicity of participants receiving HT during radiation and chemotherapy to participants receiving relaxation training or usual care during radiation and chemotherapy treatment collected via blood draw.

Fresh peripheral blood mononuclear cells tested for cytolytic activity against the NK-sensitive K562 cells and the NK-resistant LAK-sensitive ZKBL cells in a standard 4-h 51Chromium- release assay.

Number of chemoradiation-related toxicities

Compare number of reported side effects of participants receiving HT during radiation and chemotherapy treatment to participants receiving relaxation training or usual care as measured by the Common Toxicity Criteria Manual Version 2.0

Number of days of treatment delay due to chemoradiation-related toxicities

Compare number of days in treatment delay due to chemoradiation-related toxicity for participants receiving HT during radiation and chemotherapy treatment to participants receiving relaxation training or usual care

Change in participant reports of depression

Compare changes in depression scores of participants receiving HT to participants receiving relaxation training or usual care during radiation and chemotherapy as measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) in which higher scores indicate worse depression (range 0-60)

Change in participant reports of anxiety

Compare changes in reported anxiety of participants receiving HT during radiation and chemotherapy to participants receiving relaxation training or usual care during radiation and chemotherapy treatment as measured by the Profile of Mood States- Anxiety Subscale (POMS-SF) (range 0-28)

Change in white blood cell counts

Compare change in white blood cell counts of participants receiving HT during radiation and chemotherapy vs. patients receiving relaxation training or usual care during this time

hemotherapy to participants receiving relaxation training or usual care during radiation and chemotherapy treatment collected via blood draw.

Change in red blood cell counts

Compare change in red blood cell counts of participants receiving HT during radiation and chemotherapy to participants receiving relaxation training or usual care during radiation and chemotherapy treatment collected via blood draw.

Change in participant reports of quality of life

Compare change in reported quality of life of participants receiving HT during radiation and chemotherapy to participants receiving relaxation training or usual care during radiation and chemotherapy treatment as measured by the Functional assessment of Cancer therapies (FACT). Higher scores indicate better quality of life. Range= (0-136).

Change in participant reports of fatigue

Compare reported fatigue of participants receiving HT during radiation and chemotherapy to participants receiving relaxation training or usual care during radiation and chemotherapy treatment as measured by the Fatigue Severity Inventory (FSI). Mean fatigue intensity (range 0-10) with higher scores indicating more fatigue, and fatigue duration in days last week experiencing fatigue (0-7 days) with greater number of days indicating greater fatigue duration.

Change in metabolomic measures

Compare metabolic profile of participants receiving HT during radiation and chemotherapy treatment to participants receiving relaxation training or usual care. Samples were assayed using Ultrahigh Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectroscopy (UPLC-MS/MS). The metabolomic profiling analysis measures the quantity of specific compounds in the plasma vs. a platform of 844 known metabolites in a commercial platform powered by Metabolon, Inc. For any specific metabolite, higher levels indicates greater presence of the metabolite.