[MOL] Journaling study

["Jean Johnson" <tiggeroo@tidalwave.net>]

I was looking for journaling sites on the internet (because I want to
start a journal) when I came across this site that looked like it might
be of interest for those of you who have had breast cancer.  So I
decided to send it on.

While I'm here though, does anyone know of any really good sites, books,
tips, topics relating to journaling?  

-Jean
P.S.  When I saw my psychologist today she was very impressed with the
meditating I've been doing.  And she liked it that I was practicing some
mindfulness, too, and I'm using the chart she gave me for analyzing my
"hot thoughts."  She talked a little more to me about nutrition and a
conference she'd attended recently.  She said the speaker (a professor
at George Mason University) had said that when the body is out of
balance due to wrong food choices, it craves substitutes - like sugar,
alcohol, etc. (Something like that.)  So I searched the internet for
more info. on good food choices.  There were several articles on the
connection between food choices and moods.  Also, this professor
recommended a high-protein drink (?) called "Nature's Plus "Spiru-Tein"
which can be purchased at Fresh Fields or Natural Food stores.  Lastly,
she cautioned me drinking diet cokes (that one of my major weaknesses)
because the Nutrasweet in them is very bad.  She said I might want to
try carbonated fruit juices or something, anything w/o Nutrasweet.  Made
me feel that I want to go back & finish reading "Beyond Prozac" about
the link between diet and emotional health.  It did encourage me to eat
an apple today.  In fact, I ate two apples today because Michael never
ate his apple so I figured I'd just eat it myself!  

Anyway, I figure I'll try giving journalkeeping a shot.  I enjoyed my
meditation tape again today, went for a (very short) walk outside, and
did a little meditation on my own tonight.  I'm going to periodically
try to do the one where you picture yourself as the baby you once were
and express love to yourself.  Seems easy enough to recall & do...

-Jean
P.S.  I spoke to Michael about God tonight after I read a Bible story to
the kids and we talked about praying.  Michael said, in all seriousness,
that he would let God take care of Kevin (a boy he plays with) because
he (Michael) doesn't want to take Kevin because he always stinks.  The
unfortunate thing about this is that Kevin's mother and older brother
smoke so Kevin nearly always smells of cigarettes and, although I've
tried to explain to my kids that it is no his fault, my kids can't stand
the smell.  Oh well...  Shannon didn't have much to say in response to
the story, but Michael said he would thank God for his Mommy.  Isn't
that nice?  (I think Shannon's a little afraid of prayer.  Maybe it
seems spooky to her or something...).  I found a book at the bookstore
today on teaching meditation to children!  I bought it with the idea
that eventually I'll teach meditation to Shannon and Michael to help
them deal with stress and fears, etc.

My problem with journaling is that I'm such a perfectionist that I'll
probably feel compelled to start my pages over and over again whenever I
make a mistake!  I have this "thing" about clean, neat paper.  Oh well,
I'll try to work around that.  I found one site that suggests filling a
jar with topics and then picking one topic per day to write about.  It
even has suggestions for topics for children to write about (and even
draw about, if they're still too young to write!).  Interesting stuff.

WELCOME 
          Breast Cancer Journaling Study
                              Announcement

                                         April, 1998

                                        About the Study:

This is a study to learn about the process of recovery from breast
cancer from a psychosocial
perspective. If you choose to participate we will explore the effects of
journaling on your values, your
views of what comprises health and well-being for you, and on your
current feelings about your own past
life events in view of your cancer. The study will last for one year and
you will be asked to go to a World
Wide Web site twice per week to fill out some rating measures and to
journal your thoughts about cancer
for the preceding few days. 

                                    Eligibility for the Study:

     Women of any age who have now or who were diagnosed with breast
cancer within the past 12
     years. 
     Participants must be relatively healthy and NOT have other major
medical conditions in addition to
     their breast cancer 
     Women admitted to the study must have access to a means of viewing
web pages - including, but
     not limited to a computer, browser software and an on-line account.
(If you are seeing this
     announcement you probably have these items!) 
     You must be able to read and express your thoughts in the English
language. 

                             More Details about your Participation:

     From the people admitted to the study, some will be randomly
assigned to the control group. The
     control group will not be journaling or filling out bi-weekly
ratings, but WILL fill out questionnaires
     at the beginning and end of the study, and twice during the study. 
     For all participants, it is estimated that filling out the
questionnaires at the beginning and end of the
     study will take from one to two hours to complete.
     For the participants filling out the daily ratings and journaling,
the time committment each day will
     range from 15 to 90 minutes depending on the extent of your
journaling for that day.
     The daily ratings will be asking you to describe yourself using
adjectives provided. In addition you
     will be asked to determine your daily levels of things like
optimism or pessimism, spirituality, mood,
     feelings of control, and support from other people.
     You will receive NO payment for participation in this study.
     RISKS: The risks associated with this study are possible
psychological or emotional discomfort or
     distress in answering questionnaires about how breast cancer is
affecting you. This distress is
     usually temporary.
     BENEFITS: The benefits which may reasonably be expected to result
from this study are
     therapeutic in nature. It can be comforting to think about your
experience and gain insights into
     yourself and the changes you are feeling. You will also be
contributing to knowledge about the
     experience of breast cancer and will aid physicians, therapists and
women with breast cancer in the
     future to understand this disease and its effects much better.
     The study is beginning now, please join us.



                                     About the Investigator:

     Avis Austin is a cancer survivor and a doctoral candidate in
Counseling Psychology at
     Stanford University. She has worked on studies under the direction
of David Spiegel MD,
     author of "Living Beyond Limits" about his groundbreaking work with
women with metastatic
     breast cancer. Avis is currently completing her internship in
Maryland. This study is being
     used for her dissertation.





 If you are interested in signing up for the study please fill out the
consent form. After you submit the consent form,
 please look for an email within 48 hours confirming receipt of the
form. Please respond to that email to verify our
                     communication and your commitment to participate in
the study.

 Once you are signed up you will receive an email giving you
instructions as to when to begin and where on the web
                                       to point your browser.

                                        Thank you!!

                           Questions? Send me mail at
avis@leland.stanford.edu 

                                          Copyright © 1998
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is an automatically-generated notice.  If you'd like to be removed
from the mailing list, please visit the Medicine-On-Line Discussion Forum
at <http://www.meds.com/con_faq.html>, or send an email message to:
majordomo@lists.meds.com
with the subject line blank and the body of the message containing the line:
unsubscribe mol-cancer your-email-address
where the phrase your-email-address is replaced with your actual email
address.
------------------------------------------------------------------------