O sample size and randomization
cancer
CANCER, BLIND
The sample size was determined by 34 patients in each group based on the results of a pilot study on 10 participants in each group using the comparison of two means formula with 95% confidence interval and 80% test power. Assuming the possibility of participants being lost to follow up loss of some cases, and to give more assurance to the completion of study with required sample size, 39 cancer patients in each group were included in the present study. Among them, five cases from the intervention group and four individuals from the controls were lost to follow up. Finally, 69 cancer patients remained in the study (Fig. 
CONSORT Flow Chart of participantsThe first author of the study, as the research coordinator, referred to the chemotherapy unit and extracted the list of patients undergoing chemotherapy. Then introduced oneself to the cancer patients and selected eligible ones with reference to the mentioned criteria. The cancer patients were selected based on the convenience sampling method and then divided into the intervention and control groups using random sequence generated by the SPSS Statistics (v.20) software, kept in a closed envelope. Upon providing an individual oral explanation about the research objectives and methodology, informed written consent was obtained from the cancer patients in both groups. Although it is difficult to blind the participants in this trial, the outcome assessors and statisticians were blinded to the type of intervention.