Background: The components of psychoeducational interventions which are effective in reducing psychological distress are not well known.
Objectives: To examine whether increasing satisfaction with information provided by psychoeducational interventions is associated with reducing psychological distress.
Patients and method: The subjects were consecutively selected from breast cancer outpatients surgically treated at the National Cancer Center Hospital East in Japan. We conducted a 6-week psychoeducational intervention in 44 women with primary breast cancer. Satisfaction with information was assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale, and a hierarchical regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between psychological distress and patient satisfaction with the information provided.
Results: Available data were obtained in 41 patients. At 6 months after intervention, increased satisfaction with information about breast cancer (p = 0.02) and methods for coping with cancer (p = 0.04) were significantly associated with lower total mood disturbance scores.
Conclusion: The results suggest that offering appropriate medical and psychological information in psychoeducational interventions might increase patient satisfaction with information, resulting in lower psychological distress.