Emotions and coping in social comparison information. Study 1 of the project: Evidence based development of patient education information to be provided through different media to increase quality if life in cancer patients

Cancer patients who are discharged from the hospital after a curative treatment
transit to a next difficult phase: Weeks or months after discharge social
support declines, the fear of reoccurance of cancer is manifest and problems
with social and societal roles become saillient. In this phase the quality of
life is threatened. In this study a method to support quality of life will be
developed and tested. The method consists of communicating social comparison
information to the patient. Social comparison information is information about
and provided by a fellow-patient. The information will be offered in
audio-format, on CD/DVD or on tape, and consists of a person acting like a
fellow patient and telling his or her own story to the listener.

The goal if this study is to find out what the most effective social comparison
information is when it comes to increasing quality of life and decreasing
negative emotions. This question is about what kind of information the acting
patient on the audio-device will tell the listener. An earlier study showed
that two types of information may be relevant: 1) information on the negative
emotions that the patient has experienced or still is experiencing; 2)
information on how the patient copes with the situation and the negative
emotions.

In this study, participants will be assigned to 1 of 4 conditions (2x2 design).
In 3 of the 4 conditions participants will receive different types of
information: In the first condition the participants will receive the
audio-device with a patient telling about negative emotions he or she has
experienced or still is experiencing; In the second condition, the participants
will receive the audio-device with a patient telling about how he or she copes
with the situation and the negative emotions; In the third condition, the
participants will receive the audio-device with a patient telling about how he
or she copes with the situation and the negative emotions AND about how he or
she copes with the situation and the negative emotions; In the fourth
condition, the participants will receive no information.

Before the information will be send, participants are asked to fill in a
questionnaire assessing background variables, such as disease history and
socio-demographic variables. Three weeks and three months after they received
the information the follow-up measurement will be conducted.

The information on the audio-device consists of the personal story a
fellow-patient tells. Depending on the wish of the participant, the
informatioin will be send to the participant on tape or on CD/DVD. The duration
of the recording will be about twenty minutes and particicpants will be asked
to listen at least once carefully to the story.

Physically, the present study will be no burden to the patient.
Psychologically, the burden will be minimal as we know from earlier studies
that the similar information can increase quality if life.