The effectiveness of positive psychological interventions for patients with cancer: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness of positive psychological interventions on quality of life, positive psychological outcomes and negative psychological outcomes in patients with cancer. BACKGROUND: Patients with cancer often suffer from various psychological problems and have a poor quality of life. Positive psychological interventions have been increasingly applied to patients with cancer, but the results of these studies have not been synthesized. DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials according to PRISMA. METHODS: Six English databases and four Chinese databases were searched from the inception to December 2022. Two reviewers independently assessed the risk of bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. RevMan was used for meta-analysis. RESULTS: Twenty-nine randomized controlled trials examined the effects of positive psychological interventions including meaning therapy, dignity therapy, positive psychotherapy, mindfulness- based intervention, life review, expressive writing intervention, acceptance and commitment psychotherapy, attention and interpretation therapy, compassion training and spiritual therapy on patients with cancer. Positive psychological interventions significantly improved the quality of life, enhanced positive psychological outcomes including well-being, meaning of life, self-esteem, optimism, resilience and self-efficacy and alleviated negative psychological outcomes including depression, anxiety and hopelessness. However, the heterogeneity of some outcomes was rather high, due to the wide diversity of the interventions included. CONCLUSION: Positive psychological interventions have potentially positive effects on improving quality of life, enhancing positive psychological outcomes and alleviating negative psychological outcomes in patients with cancer. However, due to the heterogeneity and the lack of follow-up studies, more high-quality studies are needed to confirm the results of our review and to clarify the long-term effects of positive psychological interventions. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: As feasible psychological interventions, healthcare professionals can consider applying appropriate positive psychological interventions according to the condition of cancer patients. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution.