TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zetzl, Teresa
A1  - Pittig, Andre
A1  - Renner, Agnes
A1  - van Oorschott, Birgitt
A1  - Jentschke, Elisabeth
T1  - Yoga therapy to reduce fatigue in cancer: effects of reminder e-mails and long-term efficacy
JF  - Supportive Care in Cancer
N2  - Objective
To examine the efficacy of reminder e-mails to continue yoga therapy on practice frequency and fatigue in cancer patients and long-term effects of yoga on fatigue, depression, and quality of life.
Methology
One hundred two cancer patients who completed an 8-week yoga therapy were randomly allocated to two groups: reminder (N = 51) vs. no-reminder group (N = 51). After completing yoga therapy, the reminder group received weekly e-mails for 24 weeks, which reminded them of practicing yoga, whereas the no-reminder group did not. Primary outcomes were fatigue and practice frequency, and long-term outcomes were fatigue, depression, and quality of life. Data were assessed using questionnaires after yoga therapy (T1) and 6 months after completing yoga therapy (T2).
Result
A significantly stronger reduction of general (p = 0.038, d = 0.42) and emotional fatigue (p = 0.004, d = 0.59) and a higher increase of practice frequency (p = 0.015, d = 0.52) between T1 and T2 were found for the reminder group compared to the no-reminder group. In the mediation model, practice frequency as a mediator partially explained the changes in emotional fatigue (indirect effect B =  - 0.10). Long-term effects of yoga therapy regarding fatigue, depression, and quality of life were found (F > 7.46, p < 0.001, d > 0.54).
Conclusion
Weekly reminder e-mails after yoga therapy can positively affect general and emotional fatigue and help cancer patients with fatigue establish a regular yoga practice at home. However, higher practice frequency did not lead to higher physical or cognitive fatigue improvement, suggesting other factors that mediate efficacy on physical or cognitive fatigue, such as mindfulness or side effects of therapy.
KW  - reminder e-mails
KW  - mind–body intervention
KW  - complementary alternative medicine
KW  - long-term effects
KW  - Yoga
KW  - fatigue
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-268415
SN  - 1433-7339
VL  - 29
IS  - 12
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zetzl, Teresa
A1  - Schuler, Michael
A1  - Renner, Agnes
A1  - Jentschke, Elisabeth
A1  - van Oorschot, Birgitt
T1  - Yoga intervention and reminder e-mails for reducing cancer-related fatigue - a study protocol of a randomized controlled trial
JF  - BMC Psychology
N2  - Background
Almost 90% of cancer patients suffer from symptoms of fatigue during treatment. Supporting treatments are increasingly used to alleviate the burden of fatigue. This study examines the short-term and long-term effects of yoga on fatigue and the effect of weekly reminder e-mails on exercise frequency and fatigue symptoms.

Methods
The aim of the first part of the study will evaluate the effectiveness of yoga for cancer patients with mixed diagnoses reporting fatigue. We will randomly allocate 128 patients to an intervention group (N = 64) receiving yoga and a wait-list control group (N = 64) receiving yoga 9 weeks later. The yoga therapy will be performed in weekly sessions of 60 min each for 8 weeks. The primary outcome will be self-reported fatigue symptoms. In the second part of the study, the effectiveness of reminder e-mails with regard to the exercise frequency and self-reported fatigue symptoms will be evaluated. A randomized allocated group of the participants (“email”) receives weekly reminder e-mails, the other group does not. Data will be assessed using questionnaires the beginning and after yoga therapy as well as after 6  months.

Discussion
Support of patients suffering from fatigue is an important goal in cancer patients care. If yoga therapy will reduce fatigue, this type of therapy may be introduced into routine practice. If the reminder e-mails prove to be helpful, new offers for patients may also develop from this.
KW  - Cancer
KW  - Fatigue
KW  - Yoga
KW  - Reminder e-mails
KW  - Supportive therapy
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-202268
VL  - 7
ER  -