Digitalization of Preoperative Psychological Treatment for
Women with Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer among women. Every year, nearly 4,000 women in Norway undergo breast cancer surgery. Many experience stress, pain, and fatigue following the procedure, and for one in three, these issues become chronic, resulting in permanent disability benefits. Thus far, no treatments or interventions have effectively prevented such complications. Our project aims to change this.
In an ongoing study funded by the Norwegian Cancer Society, we have demonstrated that hypnosis treatment administered just before breast cancer surgery can have several positive effects. Participants who received hypnosis required fewer pain medications and reported lower levels of stress and fatigue after surgery. The findings also suggest that hypnosis may help prevent long-term complications.
Our goal with this project is to develop a digital version of pre-operative hypnosis that can be made accessible to all women undergoing breast cancer surgery in Norway.
In the project, we have the following objectives:
Develop digital hypnosis that meets the needs of both patients and practitioners.
Test feasibility and effectiveness in a sample from the target group.
Make the digital hypnosis available in clinical practice.
Achievement of goals will occur through seven milestones:
Recruit focus groups consisting of patients and healthcare professionals.
Conduct workshops with the focus groups to gather insights.
Develop prototypes for the digital hypnosis based on the insights from the focus groups.
Pilot the prototypes with a selection of users to gather more feedback and data.
Develop and launch a website that will support the digital hypnosis.
Evaluate the effectiveness of the digital hypnosis.
Official full-scale launch of the digital hypnosis and the associated website.
Our project has the potential to provide women undergoing breast cancer surgery with a supplement to medical treatment that can alleviate acute symptoms and prevent chronic issues. We also expect that the offering will provide patients with a valuable self-care tool and contribute to improved quality of life. The digital accessibility ensures equal access for everyone in the target group, regardless of geographical location. We believe that digital hypnosis has the potential to significantly enhance healthcare services by offering a low-threshold self-help tool for the prevention of symptoms and late effects of breast cancer surgery. We also think this could serve as a model for similar interventions in other types of surgeries.
We plan to disseminate the project results through the Norwegian Cancer Society's channels, scientific journals, dedicated websites, educational engagements at universities and colleges, as well as active communication through social media and webinars. Furthermore, we plan a nationwide launch of the completed intervention to ensure that it becomes available to all women undergoing breast cancer surgery in Norway.