Researchers in ASU's College of Nursing have been testing a treatment for insomnia in an ongoing study involving women treated for breast cancer.
Since taking medication can cause complications when combined with other prescription drugs, the women who take part in the study learn behavioral treatment to manage insomnia, which is the inability to fall asleep at night or to fall back asleep after waking up.
Shannon Dirksen, associate professor of nursing and investigator in the study, said the treatment had been tested in the general population but not among specific clinical populations, such as breast cancer survivors.
"We want to see how [insomnia] works with an additional stressor like breast cancer," Dirksen said.
The structured program of six classes includes four small group sessions and two phone conferences. The sessions are being held throughout various sites in the Phoenix area, and the data is analyzed at ASU.
Michelle Terfansky, a mechanical engineering junior and research assistant on the study, said she thought the study was important for breast cancer survivors.
"First and foremost, these women need to know they aren't alone, and this really is a problem for a lot of women," she said.
About half of breast cancer survivors suffer from insomnia and the rate of breast cancer survivors is two times that of the general population, Dirksen added.
Dirksen said there is no one known cause for insomnia, and that many factors may contribute to sleeping difficulties.
"Everyone has acute insomnia," she said, "but we don't know why some go on to develop chronic insomnia problems."
The problem, added Dirksen, is that those who struggle to sleep night after night develop poor sleep habits.
"Insomnia kind of takes on a life of its own," she said.
Dana Epstein, associate chief nurse for research at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center and adjunct professor in the College of Nursing, said breast cancer survivors deal with additional factors that may contribute to insomnia.
In addition to the side effects of hormonal therapy, they also have to face the psychological effects of dealing with the cancer diagnosis.
Epstein said the goal of the research is to explore how acceptable the treatment is to the 35 women participating in each study.
"We want to know if they will do it, if they adhere to it, who drops out and why," she said.
"We believe it will be successful from what we have seen so far," Epstein said.
The National Cancer Institution, a division of the National Institution of Health, funded the ASU study through September 2004.
Reach the reporter at katherine.j.krzys@asu.edu.
