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An exploratory study of the worst-case scenario exercise as an exposure treatment for fear of cancer recurrence

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An Erratum to this article was published on 08 March 2017

Abstract

Purpose

The worst-case scenario (WCS) exercise is part of a manualized cognitive-existential group intervention for fear of cancer recurrence (FCR). It requires cancer survivors to describe the scenario they most fear when they think about the possibility of their cancer returning and to re-read the scenario daily for 1 week as homework. The purpose of this study was to present this novel clinical treatment for FCR and to examine whether at-home repeated exposure to the WCS was related to pre- and post-therapy FCR levels.

Methods

Women with breast and gynaecological cancers who received care at The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre were recruited to participate in this follow-up study. Consenting participants provided copies of their WCS exercises.

Results

The WCS of ten female cancer survivors were collected to examine the homework portion of the exercise. Higher adherence to homework was significantly related to lower post-therapy FCR but not to pre-therapy scores.

Conclusions

Baseline levels of FCR may not be a factor influencing inter-session homework adherence to the WCS, while exposure to the WCS resulting from adherence to the homework exercise may influence post-therapy FCR outcomes. These effects remain to be differentiated from the overall therapeutic effect of the 6-week cognitive-existential intervention for FCR, using a larger sample. This study presents preliminary evidence for an upcoming multi-centre trial in which the WCS exercise will be re-examined with larger sample sizes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Chelsea Moran, Christina Tomei & Sophie Lebel

  2. Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Chelsea Moran

  3. Psychology Department, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Monique Lefebvre & Cheryl Harris

  4. Ingram School of Nursing, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Christine Maheu

Authors
  1. Chelsea Moran
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  2. Christina Tomei
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  3. Monique Lefebvre
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  4. Cheryl Harris
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  5. Christine Maheu
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  6. Sophie Lebel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chelsea Moran.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3656-1.

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Moran, C., Tomei, C., Lefebvre, M. et al. An exploratory study of the worst-case scenario exercise as an exposure treatment for fear of cancer recurrence. Support Care Cancer 25, 1373–1375 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3600-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3600-4

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