COGNITIVELY-BASED COMPASSION TRAINING AND CANCER HEALTH EDUCATION TO IMPROVE PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS IN SOLID TUMOR CANCER SURVIVORS AND THEIR INFORMAL CAREGIVERS: ROLE OF HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND EDUCATION

Abstract

Despite dramatic improvements in survival time over the last several decades, many survivors of solid tumor cancers experience impairments in health-related quality of life (HRQOL), both during and after cancer treatments end. Relevant to this problem are socioeconomic factors, such as household income and education, that may be predict various domains of HRQOL, including psychological distress (i.e., depression and anxiety). While cancer survivorship studies usually control for these demographic characteristics, few studies directly focus on how income and education may relate to psychological distress when developing interventions intended to improve well-being for solid tumor cancer survivors (as well as their informal caregivers, i.e., family and close friends). This study therefore investigated how household income and educational background may influence how a meditation-based intervention and an active attention control group impact depression and anxiety in solid tumor cancer survivors. Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT®) is an eight-week meditationbased intervention that focuses on the cultivation of compassion and empathy for oneself and others. Forty-one solid tumor cancer survivor-informal caregiver dyads were randomly assigned to CBCT or a cancer health education (CHE) control. Participants completed HRQOL questionnaires, including measures of depression and anxiety, before and after the interventions. We predicted that household income and education would influence how CBCT and CHE, inclusive of caregivers, change survivor depression and anxiety. Although we did not find evidence that household income and education influence how CBCT versus CHE may change survivor depression and anxiety, the findings suggest that lower household income and less education may be associated with higher survivor depression and anxiety. Future research with interventions to improve HRQOL and decrease psychological distress for cancer survivors and informal caregivers should continue to control for education and household income, and may also actively address these important demographic characteristics when tailoring interventions intended to improve well-being for survivors and informal caregivers.