Telch and Telch (1986) randomized 41 cancer patients with different diagnoses and stages of disease to a coping skills instruction group, an emotional support group or a no-treatment control group. The coping skills group showed consistent improvement in affective state, cognitive distress, communications, coping with medical procedures, and satisfaction related to work, social activities, physical appearance, sexual inti- macy, physical and social activities. Patients in the emotional support group showed little or no improvement, while the control patients actually deteriorated in psychological functioning. In a similar study, Cunningham and Tocco (1989), randomly assigned 60 cancer patients with mixed diagnoses to one of two group treatments: a support group which included.
