ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Upon receiving a cancer diagnosis, life irrevocably changes and complex experiences of emotional distress often occur. There is a growing interest in mindfulness-based arts interventions (MBAIs) to ameliorate the distress many patients experience. Our review objective was to synthesize the evidence on the effectiveness of MBAIs on psychological wellbeing and fatigue. METHOD: Relevant quantitative articles were identified through a systematic search of the grey literature and online databases including MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane CENTRAL, Art Full Text, ART bibliographies Modern, PsycINFO, Scopus, and EMBASE. Two independent reviewers screened titles/abstracts against predetermined inclusion criteria, read full-text articles for eligibility, conducted quality appraisals of included articles, and extracted pertinent data with a standardized data extraction form. The heterogeneity of the included studies precluded a meta-analysis and a narrative synthesis of study outcomes was conducted. RESULTS: Our systematic search retrieved 4241 titles/abstracts, and 13 studies met our inclusion criteria (eight randomized controlled trials and five quasi-experiments). Most of the studies focused on patients with cancer (92.3%). There is a growing interest in MBAIs over time and significant heterogeneity in the types of interventions. A significant effect was found on several outcomes that are important in psychosocial oncology: quality of life, psychological state, spiritual wellbeing, and mindfulness. The effect on fatigue was equivocal. CONCLUSIONS: This novel intervention demonstrates promise for the psychosocial care of patients with cancer. These findings are an essential antecedent to the continued implementation, development, and evaluation of MBAIs in oncology.