Online support reduced distress after cancer recurrence in a trial
People with recurrent cancer reported greater distress reduction after an online compassion and breathing program than with usual care; anxiety and depression improvements were not statistically clear.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
For people facing cancer recurrence, COMFORT produced a greater reduction in self-reported distress than usual care. The difference met the researchers' prespecified threshold for clinical importance. A separate measure of cancer-related traumatic distress also improved, but anxiety, depression and adjustment to cancer did not show statistically clear improvements, leaving the wider psychological effect uncertain.
Some enrolled participants did not complete the protocol; the abstract does not explain why. The authors call for trials across multiple sites, and results specific to different cancer types are not reported.
What researchers found
Distress Thermometer score
COMFORT versus usual care, baseline to 18 weeks: mean difference in improvement 1.09 units (95% CI 0.24 to 1.95).
Understanding the distress outcome
The Distress Thermometer is a self-reported distress score. The primary result concerns change from each person's starting score, compared between groups, rather than the absence of distress after the program.
A combined intervention
The intervention combined compassion-focused techniques and breathing retraining. Because they were tested together, this trial cannot determine how much either component contributed to the observed reduction in distress.
The original publication
The COMFORT Trial: A Randomised Control Trial Comparing Group-Based COMpassion-FOcused Therapy Techniques and Breathing Pattern ReTraining With Treatment as Usual on the Psychological Functioning of Patients Diagnosed With Cancer Recurrence.
Lynch S, Pender R, Ingram C et al.
Cancer Med · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40736172
- Record checked
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