Web-Based program helps manage cancer-Related fatigue

(HealthDay) -- An Internet-based educational program helps disease-free cancer survivors better manage their cancer-related fatigue (CRF), according to research published online March 12 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Young Ho Yun, M.D., Ph.D., of the Seoul National University Hospital and College of Medicine in Korea, and colleagues conducted a randomized controlled trial involving 273 disease-free cancer survivors with moderate-to-severe fatigue who either participated in a 12-week, Internet-based, CRF educational program (136 participants) or received routine care. The educational program was based on the CRF guidelines of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and incorporated the transtheoretic model.

The researchers found that, compared with the control group, the intervention group had significantly improved fatigue scores on the Brief Fatigue Inventory and the total Fatigue Severity Scale. Additionally, the intervention group had a significantly greater reduction in the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, improved global quality of life scores, and improved scores on subscales of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire, compared with control individuals.

"Our findings indicate that a Web-based self-management intervention may provide an effective treatment for CRF, especially for moderate or greater fatigue," the authors write.