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Objective To examine the efficacy of reminder e-mails to continue yoga therapy on practice frequency and fatigue in cancer patients and long-term effects of yoga on fatigue, depression, and quality of life. Methodology One hundred two cancer patients who completed an 8-week yoga therapy were randomly allocated to two groups: reminder (N = 51) vs. no-reminder group (N = 51). After completing yoga therapy, the reminder group received weekly e-mails for 24 weeks, which reminded them of practicing yoga, whereas the no-reminder group did not. Primary outcomes were fatigue and practice frequency, and long-term outcomes were fatigue, depression, and quality of life. Data were assessed using questionnaires after yoga therapy (T1) and 6 months after completing yoga therapy (T2). Result A significantly stronger reduction of general (p = 0.038, d = 0.42) and emotional fatigue (p = 0.004, d = 0.59) and a higher increase of practice frequency (p = 0.015, d = 0.52) between T1 and T2 were found for the reminder group compared to the no-reminder group. In the mediation model, practice frequency as a mediator partially explained the changes in emotional fatigue (indirect effect B = − 0.10). Long-term effects of yoga therapy regarding fatigue, depression, and quality of life were found (F > 7.46, p d > 0.54). Conclusion Weekly reminder e-mails after yoga therapy can positively affect general and emotional fatigue and help cancer patients with fatigue establish a regular yoga practice at home. However, higher practice frequency did not lead to higher physical or cognitive fatigue improvement, suggesting other factors that mediate efficacy on physical or cognitive fatigue, such as mindfulness or side effects of therapy.

Purpose Examine the effects of an 8-week yoga therapy on fatigue in patients with different types of cancer. Methods A total of 173 cancer patients suffering from mild to severe fatigue were randomly allocated to yoga intervention (n = 84) (IG) versus waitlist control group (CG) (n = 88). Yoga therapy consisted of eight weekly sessions with 60 min each. The primary outcome was self-reported fatigue symptoms. Secondary outcomes were symptoms of depression and quality of life (QoL). Data were assessed using questionnaires before (T0) and after yoga therapy for IG versus waiting period for CG (T1). Results A stronger reduction of general fatigue (P = .033), physical fatigue (P = .048), and depression (P < .001) as well as a stronger increase in QoL (P = .002) was found for patients who attended 7 or 8 sessions compared with controls. Within the yoga group, both higher attendance rate and lower T0-fatigue were significant predictors of lower T1-fatigue (P ≤ .001). Exploratory results revealed that women with breast cancer report a higher reduction of fatigue than women with other types of cancer (P = .016) after yoga therapy. Conclusion The findings support the assumption that yoga therapy is useful to reduce cancer-related fatigue, especially for the physical aspects of fatigue. Women with breast cancer seem to benefit most, and higher attendance rate results in greater reduction of fatigue. Trial registration German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00016034

Nach aktuellen Kenntnissen uber den Erwerb mathematischer Kompetenzen bei Kindern sollte sich eine fruhe Forderung am naturlichen Entwicklungsverlauf mathematischer Kompetenzen orientieren. Vor diesem Hintergrund wurde in einer Pilotstudie uberpruft, inwieweit sich fruhe Mengen-Zahlen-Kompetenzen auf drei verschiedenen Ebenen durch das Konzept „Mengen, zahlen, Zahlen“ (MZZ, Krajewski/Nieding/Schneider 2007) bei Vorschulkindern fordern lassen. In der vorliegenden Untersuchung interessierte im Besonderen, ob sich differenzierte Fordereffekte in Abhangigkeit vom Alter der geforderten Vorschulkinder finden lassen. Es zeigte sich eine generelle Uberlegenheit der mit dem MZZ geforderten Kinder gegenuber einer Kontrollgruppe ohne systematische Forderung. Daruber hinaus fanden sich altersspezifische Fordereffekte insofern, als die jungeren Vorschulkinder vor allem auf der ersten Ebene fruher Mengen-Zahlen-Kompetenzen profitierten, wahrend die mittlere Altersgruppe auf den ersten beiden und die alteren Vorschulkinder v.a. auf der dritten Kompetenzebene zulegten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass eine differenzierte mathematische Fruhforderung moglich und besonders dann erfolgreich ist, wenn sie sich am jeweiligen Entwicklungsstand der Kinder orientiert.