Cancer Support Community Montana is part of a national network that has always placed a high value on choosing programs that are research-based. CSC National has a Research & Training institute that looks at how participation in our program has affected people with cancer.

From the stories we hear, we have always believed that people who come to CSC for support and programs are doing better than those who do not. However, we now have new data that has come from Cancer Support Community Research & Training Institute and their partners in psychosocial care:

• Patients with depression have higher health care utilization (33.66 visits vs. 18.8 visits for those without depression)
• Patients with breast cancer participating in a six-week cognitive-behavioral session (like CSC), billed the health care system 23.5% less than the control arm and a total of $6,199 less over the course of the study (Simpson et al, 2001)
• Men with prostate cancer participating in group intervention decreased health care contacts from 10 to 4.4 over a 6-month period while the control group remained stable at 8 contacts (Pennebaker, 2000)
• According to Andersen et al. (2004, 2008, 2010), patients with breast cancer engaged in social and emotional intervention have significant benefits over those who do not:
  • 45% reduced risk of breast cancer recurrence
  • 56% reduced risk of breast cancer death
  • 41% reduced risk of death following recurrence for the intervention arm with immune indices significantly higher
  • Increase in T-cell development (which shows an improvement in immune function)
  • Decrease in anxiety, and an increase in family support * Decrease in number of smokers
  • Fewer symptoms/toxicities from cancer treatment

Download Article