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Completed Not applicable Interventional Results available

Effect of Group Led Creative Writing on Mood in Cancer Patients

ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03536702

Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03536702. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.

ClinicalTrials.gov public records Last synced Sep 3, 2026, 8:50 PM EDT

Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.

Brief summary

Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.

The primary purpose of this study is to determine whether creative writing in newly diagnosed cancer patients and those with recent progression in their disease will have a positive impact on their mental health. Using a randomized controlled trial approach, emotion thermometers will be employed to evaluate participants' responses on a number of domains, such as anxiety, depression, despair, and anger along with a series of survey questions to monitor changes in depressive and anxiety symptoms. Open-ended survey questions will be used to capture how a creative writing intervention impacts participants' experience of their illness. Melissa Greene's Write from the Heart program focuses more on creative writing rather than cancer focused topics. Patients in the intervention arm will complete -one and a half hour group sessions every two weeks over the span of 3 months. Participants in the active control arm will be provided a book (i.e., Writing Down Bones by Natalie Goldberg) about creative writing and will be asked to do activities for 1.5 hrs every 2 weeks for a period of 3 months.

Study identification

NCT ID
NCT03536702
Recruitment status
Completed
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Not applicable
Enrollment
60 participants

Conditions and interventions

Eligibility (public fields only)

Age range
20 Years and older
Sex
All
Healthy volunteers
Healthy volunteers not accepted

This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.

Study timeline

Start date
Mar 27, 2018
Primary completion
Nov 15, 2018
Completion
Nov 15, 2018
Last update posted
Oct 19, 2020

2018

United States locations

U.S. sites
1
U.S. states
1
U.S. cities
1
Facility City State ZIP Site status
Penn State Cancer Institute Hershey Pennsylvania 17033

Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.

About this trial record page

What this page shows
Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03536702, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
What this page does not do
No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
Where the data comes from
Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
Last refresh
Last update posted Oct 19, 2020 · Synced Sep 3, 2026

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Open the official record

The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT03536702 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.

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