Effects of Psychosocial Interventions With Adult Cancer Patients: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Experiments

Thomas J. Meyer, Melvin M. Mark

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

737 Scopus citations

Abstract

Meta-analytic methods were used to synthesize the results of published randomized, controlled-outcome studies of psychosocial interventions with adult cancer patients. Forty-five studies reporting 62 treatment-control comparisons were identified. Samples were predominantly White, female, and from the United States. Beneficial effect size d s were.24 for emotional adjustment measures,.19 for functional adjustment measures,.26 for measures of treatment-and disease-related symptoms, and.28 for compound and global measures. The effect size of.17 found for medical measures was not statistically significant for the few reporting studies. Effect sizes for treatment-control comparisons did not significantly differ among several categories of treatment: behavioral interventions, nonbehavioral counseling and therapy, informational and educational methods, organized social support provided by other patients, and other nonhospice interventions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)101-108
Number of pages8
JournalHealth Psychology
Volume14
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1995

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Applied Psychology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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