Sexual health and rehabilitation after ovarian suppression treatment (SHARE-OS): a clinical intervention for young breast cancer survivors

Purpose Each year, thousands of young breast cancer (BC) patients confront the difficult decision to medically suppress ovarian function and undergo abrupt, premature menopause to reduce risk of cancer recurrence. Unlike natural menopause, young women undergoing ovarian suppression (OS) face severe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cancer survivorship 2020-02, Vol.14 (1), p.26-30
Main Authors: Bober, Sharon L., Fine, E., Recklitis, C. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anxiety
Breast cancer
Cognitive ability
Health Informatics
Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Health risks
Intervention
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Menopause
Oncology
Primary Care Medicine
Public Health
Quality of Life Research
Rehabilitation
Risk management
Sexual behavior
Sexual health
Side effects
Survival
Telephone calls
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Summary:Purpose Each year, thousands of young breast cancer (BC) patients confront the difficult decision to medically suppress ovarian function and undergo abrupt, premature menopause to reduce risk of cancer recurrence. Unlike natural menopause, young women undergoing ovarian suppression (OS) face severe and disruptive side effects. Profound sexual dysfunction is one of the most prevalent, distressing side effects of OS treatment. Unmanaged sexual dysfunction is also a primary predictor of non-adherence to this potentially life-saving treatment. We developed and tested a brief, psychosexual intervention targeted to manage sexual dysfunction and psychological distress after OS in young BC survivors. Methods Twenty young BC survivors with sexual dysfunction received a single 4-h group intervention that included sexual health rehabilitation, body awareness exercises, and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) skills followed by a single tailored booster telephone call 1-month later. Assessment of female sexual function and psychological distress was completed at baseline and 2 months post-intervention. Results Analyses examined changes pre- to post-intervention. Female sexual health improved significantly from baseline to follow-up ( n  = 19, p  
ISSN:1932-2259
1932-2267
DOI:10.1007/s11764-019-00800-x