the proposed research continues our investigation of the effectiveness of behavioral procedures in reducing the conditioned aversive responses developed by many cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy. By building on prior work which has clearly documented the potential for progressive muscle relaxation training to reduce the distress of cancer chemotherapy, the proposed research attempts to increase the reliability and potency of this relaxation technique within the chemotherapy situation, and to render it sufficiently practical and cost/effective to allow more widespread usage. The project includes six studies. The first two studies are designed to increase the efficiency of behavioral relaxation training by (a) decreasing the amount of professional time needed to train patients in the procedure, and (b) developing ways of increasing """"""""transfer of training"""""""" so that patients can quickly learn to employ it on their own during actual chemotherapy treatments. The second two studies are aimed at increasing the efficacy of the relaxation training procedure by (a) increasing family involvement in the training and use of the procedure, and (b) preventing the development of conditioned responses to chemotherapy by combining relaxation training with a thorough preparation-for-chemotherapy procedure, and initiating both at the very beginning of the chemotherapy experience. The final two studies are aimed at individualizing patient care and consist of (a) a retrospective and prospective investigation of psychosocial and physiological variables that may be predictive of which patients will and will not benefit from behavioral relaxation procedures, and (b) the development of an intervention strategy aimed at increasing the effectiveness of relaxation training in patients who normally would not respond well to the procedure.
