Background: Approximately one third of all patients who have been successfully treated for cancer suffer from chronic cancer-related fatigue (CCRF). Effective and easily accessible interventions are needed for these patients.

Objective: The current paper reports on the results of a 3-armed randomized controlled trial investigating the clinical effectiveness of two different guided Web-based interventions for reducing CCRF compared to an active control condition.

Methods: Severely fatigued cancer survivors were recruited via online and offline channels, and self-registered on an open-access website. After eligibility checks, 167 participants were randomized via an embedded automated randomization function into: (1) physiotherapist-guided Ambulant Activity Feedback (AAF) therapy encompassing the use of an accelerometer (n=62); (2) psychologist-guided Web-based mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (eMBCT; n=55); or (3) an unguided active control condition receiving psycho-educational emails (n=50). All interventions lasted nine weeks. Fatigue severity was self-assessed using the Checklist Individual Strength - Fatigue Severity subscale (primary outcome) six times from baseline (T0b) to six months (T2). Mental health was self-assessed three times using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (secondary outcome). Treatment dropout was investigated.

Results: Multiple group latent growth curve analysis, corrected for individual time between assessments, showed that fatigue severity decreased significantly more in the AAF and eMBCT groups compared to the psycho-educational group. The analyses were checked by a researcher who was blind to allocation. Clinically relevant changes in fatigue severity were observed in 66% (41/62) of patients in AAF, 49% (27/55) of patients in eMBCT, and 12% (6/50) of patients in psycho-education. Dropout was 18% (11/62) in AAF, mainly due to technical problems and poor usability of the accelerometer, and 38% (21/55) in eMBCT, mainly due to the perceived high intensity of the program.

Conclusions: Both the AAF and eMBCT interventions are effective for managing fatigue severity compared to receiving psycho-educational emails.

Bruggeman-Everts, F. Z., Wolvers, M. D., van de Schoot, R., Vollenbroek-Hutten, M. M., & Van der Lee, M. L. (2017). Effectiveness of Two Web-Based Interventions for Chronic Cancer-Related Fatigue Compared to an Active Control Condition: Results of the “Fitter na kanker” Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research19(10): e336. http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/jmir.7180

Trial Registration: NTR3483;

<a href="/fieke-bruggeman-everts">Fieke Bruggeman-Everts</a>
Former team member

In June 2012 I started my PhD project at the Helen Dowling Institute, which is a mental healthcare facility for cancer patients. There, I quantitatively investigated the effectiveness of two eHealth interventions for...

<a href="/marije-wolvers">Marije Wolvers</a>
Former team member

The analyses of two of the chapters of her PhD thesis are performed with Bayesian statistics in MPlus. Rens is copromotor (defence is March 3rd), thesis titled A coach in your pocket. On chronic cancer-related fatigue and...