The effectiveness of brief reminiscence-based psychosocial interventions for cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

AIM:To determine the effectiveness of brief reminiscence-based psychosocial interventions in alleviating psychological distress in cancer patients. BACKGROUND:Cancer patients suffer tremendous psycho-spiritual pain, which affects their quality of life. Brief reminiscence-based psychosocial interventions have demonstrated positive effects on the mental health of cancer patients; however, the efficacy of these interventions has been inconsistent. DESIGN:A systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS:This review was conducted and reported in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 checklist provided by the EQUATOR network. The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PsycINFO, PubMed, Embase, CINAHL and Scopus databases were systematically searched from inception to 27 November 2022 to identify randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published in English. RESULTS:Twenty studies involving 1744 cancer participants were included. The meta-analysis showed statistically significant effects of brief reminiscence-based psychosocial interventions on hope, anxiety and depression at post-intervention. A separate analysis revealed that brief reminiscence-based psychosocial interventions had a sustainable effect on hope, spiritual well-being, anxiety and depression at 1 month after the intervention. However, no statistically significant effect on quality of life was found in our study either immediately after the intervention or at 1 month. CONCLUSIONS:Brief reminiscence-based psychosocial interventions can significantly reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms and improve hope and spiritual well-being in cancer patients. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE:This study further supports that brief reminiscence-based psychosocial interventions should be incorporated into the routine care of cancer patients to address their psychosocial distress. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION:All authors of this article contributed to the study conception and design. All authors of the included studies provided original data for this paper.