Improving Cognitive and Psychosocial Symptoms and Social Functioning in Breast Cancer Survivors

Objective: The objective of this study is to compare the effects of two home-based daily interventions (mantra meditation (MM) and music listening (ML)) on survivors’ cognitive and psychological symptoms and social functioning that currently have limited treatment treatment options and imped social functioning. Design: Pilot prospective RCT, data collection at 2 timepoints (baseline, post 8-week intervention). Setting: Central Texas Community. Participants (or Animals, Specimens, Cadavers): 12 BCS who are on average 51.75 years of age (SD 6.55), 3 months to 5 years post chemotherapy completion, reported cognitive symptoms and did not have a regular meditation practice. Volunteer sample recruited from community oncology practices, a breast cancer navigation center, and oncology nurses. Interventions: Meditation program: daily 12 minute guided meditations that incorporate chanting, visualization and finger movements; Music program: daily listening to 12 minute classical music tracks (Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky). Both programs are delivered remotely through audio files for 8 consecutive weeks and all participants are contacted weekly to facilitate intervention adherence. Main Outcome Measure(s): Cognitive symptoms (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Cognitive Function Perceived Cognitive Impairment Scale)Anxiety and depressive symptoms (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Emotional Distress), Perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale)Social role limitations (Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey Social Subscale). Results: 12 participants have completed data collection (n=6 in MM and n=6 in ML).Cognitive symptoms improved for 83.3% of MM and 100% in ML; anxiety decreased in 50% in ML; depressive symptoms decreased in 50% of ML and 16% of MM; stress decreased in 83% of ML and 16% of MM; social role functioning improved in 33.33% of ML and 66.66% of MM. Conclusions: In this pilot study, preliminary findings suggest that both MM and ML may improve cognitive, depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms and social functioning of BCS. Those in ML demonstrated higher rates of improvements in psychosocial symptoms and those in the MM group demonstrated a higher rate of social functioning gains. Findings from this study will inform a larger RCT to evaluate and compare the efficacy of these two home based interventions interventions. Due to the small sample size, this pilot study is limited in statistical analyses and interpretations. This pilot study will enroll 30 participants by June 2019 (currently at 83% enrollment) which increase the power to evaluate outcome changes statistically. Author(s) Disclosures: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. Key Words: Cancer Related Cognitive Impairment, Behavioral Interventions, Integrative Interventions, Long Term Psychosocial Symptoms, Cancer Survivorship