Abstract
Background: Adult cancer survivors often experience substantial psychological morbidity following the completion of acute cancer treatment. Unfortunately, current psychological interventions are of limited efficacy. This study explored if metacognitive therapy (MCT); a brief transdiagnostic psychological intervention was potentially efficacious and could be delivered effectively to adult cancer survivors with psychological morbidity.Methods: An open trial with 3- and 6-month follow-up evaluated the treatment effects of MCT in 27 consecutively referred individuals to a clinical psychology health service specializing in psycho-oncology. Each participant received a maximum of six 1-hour sessions of MCT. Levels of anxiety, depression, fear of cancer recurrence, post-traumatic stress symptoms, health related quality of life, and metacognitive beliefs and processes were assessed using self-report questionnaires.Results: MCT was associated with statistically significant reductions across all outcome measures which were maintained through to 6-month follow-up. In the ITT sample on the primary treatment outcome measure, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Total, 59% of participants met recovery criteria at post-treatment and 52% at 6-month follow-up, respectively. No participants significantly deteriorated. In the completer sample (N = 20), 80% recovered at post-treatment and 70% at 6-month follow-up. MCT was acceptable to patients with approximately 75% of patients completing all treatment sessions.Conclusion: MCT, a brief transdiagnostic psychological intervention can be delivered effectively to a heterogenous group of cancer survivors with promising treatment effects. Examining the efficacy of brief MCT against the current gold standard psychological intervention would be a valuable advance toward improving the quality of life of cancer survivors.
Highlights
The incidence of cancer in the United Kingdom is projected to increase by 2% over the 15 years with survival rates increasing
It is estimated that survival rates have doubled over the past 40 years with a ten-year survival rate of approximately 50% (Cancer Research UK, 2017) in 2016, there were an estimated 15.5 million cancer survivors which is expected to increase to 20.3 million by 2026 (National Cancer Institute, 2018)
Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) is highly prevalent, a systematic review concluded that almost 60% of cancer survivors experience debilitating FCR (Simard and Savard, 2015)
Summary
The incidence of cancer in the United Kingdom is projected to increase by 2% over the 15 years with survival rates increasing. Psychological morbidity is common in cancer survivors. 25% of cancer survivors have clinically significant levels of anxiety and depression that could benefit from treatment (Hoffman et al, 2009). Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms are common in cancer survivors with estimates ranging from 6 to 45% (Swartzman et al, 2017). Psychological morbidity adversely impacts ongoing cancer care by reducing attendance at follow up screening appointments (DiMatteo et al, 2000; Thewes et al, 2014), health related quality of life (LeMasters et al, 2013) and increases healthcare costs (Carlson and Bultz, 2004; Jansen et al, 2016) and use of healthcare services (Elliott et al, 2011). Adult cancer survivors often experience substantial psychological morbidity following the completion of acute cancer treatment. This study explored if metacognitive therapy (MCT); a brief transdiagnostic psychological intervention was potentially efficacious and could be delivered effectively to adult cancer survivors with psychological morbidity
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
