Therapist-led interventions for the treatment of traumatic stress symptoms in cancer survivors: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Objective: We reviewed the evidence regarding the effectiveness of therapist-led interventions for reducing symptoms of traumatic stress in cancer survivors. Methods: This systematic review was completed in accordance with the guidelines illustrated by Popay and colleagues and the following online databases, PsychInfo, Medline, CINAHL, were searched for peer-reviewed literature. Further studies were searched through Google Scholar and manually scanning the reference lists of all included studies. The PRISMA guidelines were followed to report results. Results: Sixteen studies were identified, their quality varied and the interventions broadly fell into two categories: CBT-based and non-CBT interventions. Effect sizes were small to moderate in 12 studies and large in four. Drop-out rates were mostly low. Conclusion: This review has demonstrated that the research in this field is still scarce and due to the data mostly suggesting a small to moderate effect, firm conclusions cannot be drawn on the effectiveness of the included interventions.