Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Enrolling by Invitation

NCT Number: NCT07298980

ExBRAC- Expressive Writing in Breast Cancer

The study is a randomized trial designed to examine whether an "expressive writing" intervention can affect the quality of life in patients recently diagnosed with breast cancer. The method "expressive writing" consists of writing about the breast cancer or other related subjects during 20 minutes, once a week for four consecutive weeks. The impact on quality of life will be assessed by having participants complete questionnaires at three different time points during the study. The questionnaire will be developed using a clinimetric approach, based on semi-structured interviews with breast cancer patients. The themes emerging from these interviews will be used to formulate the questions. Additionally, well-known quality-of-life measurement instruments and registry data with clinically relevant information-such as tumor stage and treatment-will be incorporated.

Enrolling by Invitation

Interested in participating?

Request Info

Key information

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

Female

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Department of Surgery, Hospital of Helsingborg

Helsingborg, Skåne County, Sweden

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Planned for surgery of breast cancer without neoadjuvant treatment

Exclusion criteria

  • Not able to understand Swedish
  • Previous breast cancer

Treatment and study plan

Expressive writing

Behavioral

Expressive writing means that the patient writes privately about the cancer or other related subject for 20 minutes. This will be repeated once a week for 4 weeks. The writing should be done in a place free from distractions and on the patients' mother tongue. The text will not be collected.

Primary outcomes

  1. Health-related quality of life

    Time frame: At the 12 months follow-up

    According to EQ-5D-5L VAS. The scale ranges from 0-100 where 0 is "worst possible health" and 100 is "best possible health".

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Region Skane

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Expressive Writing in Breast Cancer - The ExBRAC Trial

Acronym: ExBRAC

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2028
Study completion
2029
First posted
Dec 23, 2025
Registry last updated
May 13, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.