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Cultivating resiliency in patients with neurofibromatosis 2 who are deafened or have severe hearing loss: a live‑video randomized control trial

  • Clinical Study
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Abstract

Introduction

Patients with NF2 who are deaf or have significant hearing loss face numerous and unique challenges which lead to poor quality of life, and thus may benefit from resiliency programs.

Methods

We performed secondary data analyses on a single blind, randomized controlled trial of an 8 week mind–body resiliency program (the Relaxation Response and Resiliency program for Deaf NF2; d3RP-NF2) versus a health education control (Health Enhancement Program for Deaf NF2;dHEP-NF2) which showed improvement in quality of life (Funes in JAMA 2019, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-019-03182-3). Here we report on improvements in resiliency factors (i.e. optimism, gratitude, perceived social support, mindfulness, and perceived coping abilities) assessed at baseline, post-test and 6-month follow-up. Both programs were delivered via Skype using Communication Access Real-Time Translation.

Results

Patients who were randomized to the d3RP-NF2 program exhibited significant improvements from baseline to post-program in gratitude (Mdifference = 4.04, 95% CI 1.58–6.50; p = 0.002), perceived social support (Mdifference = 16.36, 95% CI 9.20–23.51; p < 0.001), mindfulness (Mdifference = 4.02, 95% CI 1.10–6.94; p = 0.008), perceived coping (Mdifference = 15.25, 95% CI 10.21–20.28; p < 0.001), and a non-significant trend of improvement in optimism (Mdifference = 1.15, 95% CI −0.14–12.44; p = 0.079). These improvements were all maintained through the 6-month follow up. Improvements in perceived coping (Mdifference = 12.34, 95% CI 4.75–19.93; p = 0.002), social support (Mdifference = 13.11, 95% CI 2.19–24.03; p = 0.02), and gratitude (Mdifference = 4.59, 95% CI 0.83–8.36; p = 0.018) were over and above the changes observed in those randomized to dHEP-NF2.

Conclusion

The d3RP-NF2 sustainably improves multiple dimensions of resiliency. Promoting resiliency may be of utmost importance for this uderserved population.

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Funding

This study was possible due to a Clinical Trials Award from the Children’s Tumor Foundation (CTF) and a Department of Defense Grant (W81XWH-17–1-0121) to Ana-Maria Vranceanu.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Integrated Brain Health Clinical and Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, One Bowdoin Square, 1st Floor, Suite 100, Boston, USA

    Jonathan Greenberg, Sarah Carter, Ethan Lester & Ana-Maria Vranceanu

  2. Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

    Jonathan Greenberg, Sarah Carter, Ethan Lester, Eric A. Macklin, Scott Plotkin & Ana-Maria Vranceanu

  3. Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Psychiatry & Athinoula A Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA

    Christopher J. Funes

  4. Biostatistics Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Eric A. Macklin

  5. Neurofibromatosis Clinic, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Scott Plotkin

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  1. Jonathan Greenberg
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  2. Sarah Carter
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  3. Ethan Lester
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  4. Christopher J. Funes
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  7. Ana-Maria Vranceanu
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Correspondence to Ana-Maria Vranceanu.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Greenberg, J., Carter, S., Lester, E. et al. Cultivating resiliency in patients with neurofibromatosis 2 who are deafened or have severe hearing loss: a live‑video randomized control trial. J Neurooncol 145, 561–569 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-019-03326-5

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