Development and Implementation of a Culturally Informed Spanish Language Yoga Program for Latiné Women With Overweight or Obesity Diagnosed With Cancer: A Single Arm Pilot Study.

Background: Given limited yoga research in health disparities populations, we developed and evaluated a 12-week Spanish language yoga program for Latiné women with overweight or obesity affected by cancer. The program aimed to empower participants through culturally tailored yoga practice and opportunities for social connection and support. Methods: Partnering with a community-based organization, the program was co-created by bilingual (English and Spanish-speaking) yoga instructors, Latiné cancer survivor support professionals, and integrative medicine researchers. The single arm intervention consisted of 12 separate, 60-minute Hatha yoga classes, including physical postures, breathing exercises, culturally relevant poetry, and post-practice socialization opportunities. Measures were administered at baseline, 12-week, and 24-week. Results: Thirty-five eligible participants enrolled in the program, demonstrating high feasibility and relevance as well as high levels of engagement in home practice. Some participants faced barriers to regular home practice, including family responsibilities and concerns about proper pose execution. Preliminary outcome analyses indicated improvements in sleep disturbance, pain interference, depression, and blood pressure post-intervention, with sustained improvements in depression, anxiety, and blood pressure at 24-week. No significant changes were observed in fatigue, physical function, positive affect, satisfaction with social roles and activities, and weight. Structured post-practice social snack time with yoga instructors (compared with unstructured time with peers) was associated with self-reported improvements in satisfaction with social roles and activities and weight loss. Conclusion: This yoga program successfully engaged female Latiné cancer survivors with overweight and obesity and serves as a foundational step in empowering this population to improve their health and well-being through culturally tailored yoga practice. Future research should utilize controlled study designs and engage participants from different geographical regions to study the efficacy and sustainability of findings.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction for men on active surveillance for prostate cancer and their spouses: Design and methodology of a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Although active surveillance (AS) is an increasingly adopted treatment paradigm for management of very low risk prostate cancer, many men and their partners face a variety of AS-related psychosocial stressors. Stressors may include anxiety and fear of progression, which may negatively affect short- and long-term psychosocial adjustment and influence early withdrawal from AS in order to seek definitive therapies such as surgery or radiation. Here we describe the protocol for an NCI-funded trial, which seeks to examine the efficacy of mindfulness training compared with a time/attention-matched health promotion control condition in a geographically generalizable sample of men on AS and their spouses. METHODS: Using a randomized, controlled, partially double-blinded study design, this study involves the delivery of 8 weeks of standardized mindfulness training (MBSR; mindfulness-based stress reduction) and patient reported outcomes over a 12-month period (proposed enrollment of 80 men on AS and spouses), compared with a health promotion control (proposed enrollment of 80 men on AS and spouses) that has been matched for time and attention. Baseline (T1) measures (e.g., anxiety, fear of progression, quality of life) are administered just prior to randomization to the two study arms, followed by repeated assessments at 2 months (T2), 6 months (T3) and 12 months (T4). CONCLUSION: This study has the potential to offer men and their partners on AS with important educational and self-regulatory skills to better cope and adjust with known stressors related to being placed on this protocol.

Development and Implementation of a Brief Healthcare Professional Support Program Based in Gratitude, Mindfulness, Self-compassion, and Empathy.

OBJECTIVE: To highlight the development, implementation, and initial findings of a brief healthcare professional support program called "GRACE." BACKGROUND: Healthcare professionals face significant work-related stressors that when left unmanaged can negatively affect their overall well-being and contribute to burnout. METHODS: Over a 2-year period, the GRACE program was delivered to 8 clinical units at a midsized southwestern hospital. Questionnaires were administered at baseline and 1 month. RESULTS: Program participants were 36 years old on average, female (81%), and White (68%) and mostly employed as nurses (66%). Attendees reported increased knowledge, understanding, and confidence and found the program to be acceptable. One month after training, participants demonstrated significant improvements in self-compassion. Medical units that received GRACE training saw significantly greater increases in patient satisfaction scores compared with units that did not receive training. CONCLUSIONS: The GRACE program was feasible and acceptable to deliver, and initial proof-of-concept evidence was supported.

A randomized pilot study of mindfulness-based stress reduction in a young adult cancer sample: Feasibility, acceptability, and changes in patient reported outcomes.

BACKGROUND: The primary purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and acceptability of participation in a randomized waitlist-controlled intervention of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in a young adult cancer sample. A secondary aim was to examine patterns of change in patient reported outcomes (PROs) of physical, social, and emotional functioning. METHODS: Participants were enrolled at a large Midwestern comprehensive cancer center and randomized to MBSR or a waitlist control. Feasibility and acceptability were examined through enrollment metrics and a survey. PROs were gathered at baseline, 8-weeks, and 16-weeks. Descriptive statistics and mixed models were used in analyses. RESULTS: Of 597 eligible participants, 151 (26.5%) consented from which 126 (83.4%) completed baseline measures. Sixty-seven participants were randomized to MBSR, and 59 to the waitlist. Immediately following MBSR, the majority of respondents (72%-78%) reported their experience with mindfulness was very logical and useful to increasing their wellbeing. Compared to waitlist members, MBSR participant's scores on PROs improved in expected directions. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that recruitment for an intensive, in-person, multi-week supportive intervention can be challenging with young adults with cancer, similar to other cancer survivor populations; however once enrolled, feasibility and acceptability of MBSR was supported. Further, initial evidence on the role of MBSR on short-term changes in select PROs with this population was also demonstrated.

Preliminary Efficacy of a Brief Mindfulness Intervention for Procedural Stress in Medical Intern Simulated Performance: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial.

Objectives: Simulation-based mastery learning (SBML) programs have been shown to be beneficial to improve procedural skill acquisition. However, simulated procedure performance can be affected by a host of factors, including stress. This investigation examined the preliminary efficacy of bolstering an established SBML program for medical residents with a brief mindfulness intervention (called a PITSTOP) to reduce procedural stress and improve simulator performance. Design: The study employed a partially blinded, parallel-group, randomized, repeated-measures intention-to-treat design. Participants were blinded to the primary outcome (simulator performance) and instead were informed of the study's secondary outcome (stress prevention). The SBML faculty instructors and study investigators were blinded to participants' group assignment. Settings/location: Northwestern Memorial Hospitals of Chicago. Subjects: Twenty-six postgraduate year (PGY) 1 internal medicine residents enrolled in a required SBML central venous catheter (CVC) insertion training from June 2015 to January 2018 participated in the study. Interventions: SBML consists of a simulated skills pretest, deliberate practice, and a simulated skills post-test (within 1 week of pretest). PGY 1 participants were randomly assigned to the PITSTOP intervention (12-min PITSTOP mindfulness training video) or control group (12-min control video on ways to increase physical activity) before the SBML pretest. Outcome measures: The primary outcome was a comparison of each group's simulator performance during pre- and post-tests. Secondary outcomes were changes in groups' procedural stress during these tests (assessed using self-reported, instructor-rated, and physiologic indicators), and self-reported self-regulation outcomes. Results: Residents who watched the PITSTOP video before their SBML training made fewer procedural errors relative to controls during their pretest for intrajugular CVC insertion (p = 0.03). PITSTOP participants also had lower heart rate (p = 0.03) and less visible trembling (p = 0.003) relative to controls at the post-test. Conclusions: This study provides preliminary evidence that a brief, mindfulness intervention may reduce stress during SBML training.

Exploring cancer survivors' attitudes, perceptions, and concerns about using medical cannabis for symptom and side effect management: A qualitative focus group study.

The purpose of this study is to gain a greater understanding of cancer survivors' attitudes, perspectives, and concerns about medical cannabinoids (MCs) for cancer symptom and side effect management. Using qualitative methods, we conducted four focus groups (n = 19) with cancer survivors recruited from a community-based cancer wellness center. Groups were audio-recorded and facilitated by experienced co-moderators who directed discussion using a semi-structured interview guide. Transcripts were coded using principles from Grounded Theory. Analyses revealed the following ten themes and percentages of codes applied: 1) Attitudes & Beliefs (25.3%), 2) Access (17.1%), 3) Information (15.5%), 4) Concern (14%), 5) How MCs Helped (12.6%), 6) Comfort (4.3%), 7) Confusion (3.6%), 8) Trust/Distrust (3.1%), 9) Behaviors (2.3%), and 10) Support (2.2%). Participants reported that MCs offer potential benefits for symptom management and side effect relief, especially in reducing and managing pain. Despite the growing number of states that are legalizing MCs, significant barriers exist that make knowledge and adequate access a challenge for many.