Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Endometriosis

Brief summary (registry, in English)

Endometriosis affects 10% of reproductive aged women and causes severe pain and impaired quality of life (QoL). Surgery for endometriosis results in long term symptom relief in only 40% of women. QoL in endometriosis improves after surgery, but not to the level of healthy women. Mediators in QoL include pain intensity, pain cognitions, and stress. In a preliminary study, patients with negative pain cognitions reported higher pain intensities compared to patients with positive pain cognitions. This indicates that psychological factors explain considerable variance in pain, suggesting that changing these factors by psychological interventions may contribute to improving QoL. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is proven effective as a psychological treatment for pain-related symptoms. The primary objective of this study is to investigate whether usual care combined with CBT improves QoL in patients undergoing surgery for endometriosis compared to usual care only. Secondary objectives are to investigate whether pain intensity, pain cognitions, perceived stress, fatigue and objectively measured cortisol levels mediate the effects of CBT on QoL in both groups. In a randomized controlled trial, 100 endometriosis patients undergoing surgery will be randomized between usual care with CBT (CBT group) and usual care only (control group). Women in the CBT group will receive, in addition to usual care, one pre-surgery and six post-surgery sessions of CBT, aimed at positively influencing mediators of QoL. Women in the control group will receive only usual care. Follow-up will be 7,5 months. In both groups QoL, pain intensity, pain cognitions, fatigue, perceived stress (using questionnaires) and objective stress (assessing cortisol in a hair sample) will be assessed at baseline assessment, T1 (two weeks after completion of all CBT sessions) and T2 (follow-up). Recruitment and treatment of patients will take place in Rijnstate hospital and Radboud University Medical Center (UMC).

What you commit to

• Study type: Interventional
• Participants enrolled: 100
• From 24 Nov 2020 to the primary completion date, 15 Aug 2024
• 5 sites in 1 country
• Visits and tests: ask the trial team, the registry does not list them

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Who cannot take part

Copied verbatim from ClinicalTrials.gov and grouped by topic. Only the trial team decides who can take part.

Who the study is looking for

Age in the registry: 18 years to 50 years · Sex: Female · Does not accept healthy volunteers

Full criteria on ClinicalTrials.gov

Sites (5)

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