Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Breast cancer patients benefit from online support

Breast cancer patients benefit from online support groups

 

Online support groups provide emotional benefits to women with breast cancer, HealthDay/Yahoo! News reports. According to a study conducted at the Center of Excellence in Cancer Communications Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, feel-good communication online with other cancer patients was associated with improved emotional well-being and reduced negative mood in follow-up surveys. In an analysis of messages written by 66 breast cancer patients participating in an online support group, words that were suggestive of learning or understanding, such as "aware," "feels," "know," and "understand," were predominant in the communication. In an earlier report on Yahoo! Health, a study found that black American women are 19% more likely than white women to die of breast cancer, and a second study in the March 20 Journal of Clinical Oncology found that minority women in the United States are half as likely as white women to receive recommended postsurgical drug treatment for breast cancer. This may partially explain why black women are more likely to die from breast cancer, the researchers said.

 

 

 

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