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Psychosocial Support Program for People with Colorectal Cancer:
Participants Recruitment for a Clinical Trial of Mindfulness and Baduanjin

07 Dec 2016

(From left) Five members of the Tai Chi Yuan Well Being Club, Centre on Behavioral Health Director Professor Rainbow Ho, pilot program participant Ms Ng, Centre on Behavioral Health Senior Research Coordinator Mr Adrian Wan, and two other pilot program participants Ms Chan and Mr Ho.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths. Cancer is a serious illness that often causes distress in patients and their caregivers. Colorectal cancer is associated with a broad range of life style-related risk factors. Amongst all, stress is one of the prominent leading causes of cancer; and thus effective stress management is of vital importance in any psycho-social support program for colorectal cancer.

Professor of Department of Social Work & Social Administration, Director of Centre on Behavioral Health, Professor Rainbow T.H. Ho emphasized the importance of body-mind exercises such as mindfulness practice, yoga, qigong, or Taichi in mood management, and enhancement of quality of life despite illness.

Centre on Behavioral Health has also conducted a mindfulness-based self-compassion pilot study for people with cancer in early 2016. The pilot program has served 44 Chinese with cancer. The program took the form of small group practices facilitated by a registered social worker who has received professional training in mindfulness and self-compassion practices. The pilot program emphasized not only on group-based practice, but also the integration of mindfulness-based practices as well as self-kindness into one’s daily living. The program composed of 8 weekly sessions, which lasted for 2 hours each.

Preliminary results of the pilot study suggested that:
1. The Mindfulness-based Self-Compassion Training was effective in enhancing self-kindness and improving mood: Comparing with those in the wait-list control group, participants practiced Mindfulness showed significant improvements in terms of their self-kindness attitude, depression and anxiety symptoms, positive affect, and cancer-specific psychological symptoms. For example, participants reported 28% and 34% reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms, while improving their level of self-compassion and positive emotion for 8.6% and 10.5% respectively. The pilot study served people with non-specific cancer diagnosis, the efficacy of mindfulness-based self-compassion training in helping people with colorectal cancer cope warrants further exploration.

2. The Mindfulness-based Self-Compassion training was also effective in enhancing emotion regulation of people with cancer: The pilot study also introduced the use of heart rate variability (HRV) as outcome measure in mindfulness-based intervention in the local context.  Heart rate variability is a biomarker in neurophysiology reflecting ability in regulating emotions (i.e. the balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems). Comparing with the wait-list control, group participants reported significant improvements in their heart rate variability during a stress task; suggesting the potential of mindfulness-based intervention in enhancing emotion regulation.

With reference to existing literature and the clinical experiences of Centre on Behavioral Health, Department of Social Work and Social Administration (SWSA), and Centre on Behavioral Health, the University of Hong Kong is now recruiting participants for its forthcoming clinical trials exploring both the short-term and long-term effectiveness of two body-mind programs in improving holistic wellbeing of people with colorectal cancer. The clinical trial offers either an 8-week Mindfulness Program, or a Baduanjin Program to eligible people recovering from colorectal cancer to help them manage stress, and enhance well-being. Baduanjin practice is a mild form of aerobic exercise; the exercise has been endorsed by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, and the State General Administration of Sports as one of the health-enhancing practice.

The Mindfulness Program and the Baduanjin Program will be offered as an 8-week program with 8 weekly sessions and home-based practices. The primary aim of the program is to teach participants the basics practices in either Mindfulness or Baduanjin; while the home-based practice aim to help participants in deepening their learning, and to cultivate sense of self-kindness in their daily lives. The clinical trial would contribute to the furtherance of complementary body-mind support services for people with colorectal as adjuvant option to conventional treatments.

For details of the 2017 program recruitment, please see the appendix.

Enquiries
Centre on Behavioral Health, The University of Hong Kong
Phone: 2831 5158
Email: bhealth@hku.hk