Breast Cancer Patients Reported Feeling Less Despressed After Using Online Tools

A small study found that women diagnosed with breast cancer and connected with others going through the similar situation, reported feeling more upbeat over about their situation and less depressed.

The websites were designed to offer online support to fellow patients and survivors and serve as a platform to connect with each other, according to Reuters Health. Cancer, like any illness, may feel like a daunting and isolating experience.

The researchers surveyed 88 women from BreastLink, a network of cancer treatment centers in Southern California. According to the study, the women ranged in from 28 to 76 years old and roughly half were randomly assigned to create a personal website through a program called "Project Connect Online." The rest were put on a waiting list and given the same opportunity after the six-month study ended.

The websites in this study were especially helpful for women to "be able to truly tell their story, express emotions and communicate with others without having to repeat information about their diagnosis and treatment," said lead author and psychologist Annette Stanton of the University of California at Los Angeles.

Popular sites like CaringBridge.org and MyLifeLine.org offer similar tools, "but, to our knowledge, none of those websites have been tested for their effects," she said.

The researchers reported in the first month, participants spent an average of three hours adding materials and interacting with their project online. The site included a blog with personal photos, a "How You Can Help" page and a section directing visitors to outside information links.

"It's a small sample size and it needs to be confirmed and reproduced," said study co-author Dr. James Waisman, a breast cancer oncologist at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California. The study is nevertheless encouraging, Waisman said.