Psychosocial therapies for patients with cancer: a current review of interventions using psychoneuroimmunology-based outcome measures.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: As part of a new standard of quality cancer care, the Institute of Medicine has recommended inclusion of therapies that address psychosocial needs of cancer patients. A range of psychosocial therapies for managing acute and chronic stress have been developed for patients with cancer, based on the scientific framework of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI). The current review aimed to identify studies of new and emerging PNI-based psychosocial therapies in patients with cancer that have used neuroendocrine-immune biomarkers as outcomes. Specifically, this review aimed to evaluate studies based on the cancer populations involved, types of psychosocial therapies, and PNI measures employed. METHOD: Methodology was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. The PubMed, EMBASE, PsychINFO, CINAHL, and Google Scholar online databases were searched using combinations of keywords obtained from previous reviews of psychosocial interventions. Studies from 2001 to 2012 were included if they ( ) were published in English, ( ) used experimental or quasi-experimental designs, ( ) evaluated psychosocial therapies, ( ) involved cancer patients, and ( ) reported results on at least one neuroendocrine or immune outcome measure. The search strategy identified 403 records and 2 stages of screening were used to eliminate irrelevant studies. RESULT: A total of 24 cancer-specific studies of psychosocial therapies that used PNI-based outcome measures were included in this review. Most studies included early-stage breast cancer patients, and 2 major types of therapies emerged, cognitive-behavioral therapies and complementary medical therapies. Durations of interventions ranged widely, from 1.3 hours over a single week to 27 hours over 18 weeks. Considerable diversity in PNI outcomes made statistical comparisons problematic. Studies of cognitive-behavioral therapies were found to have reported the most success in impacting PNI-based measures, which were typically functional measures of the immune system, for example, cytokines. CONCLUSION: Several issues related to research methodology are discussed. Most important, studies examining dose-response associations and resource allocation are needed to guide future research. A standardized panel of psychosocial instruments and biomarkers for PNI-based studies would enhance comparability of findings across studies when evaluating this body of research and assist with integrating psychosocial therapies into the standard of cancer care.