Aim
Group treatments have been shown to be effective for many mental disorders and have shown beneficial effects in patients with general medical conditions.
The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to summarize the efficacy of group therapy for women with non-metastatic breast cancer.
Methods
We included studies that compared group therapy for women with non-metastatic breast cancer with non-active control groups, active control conditions, and individual psychotherapy.
The primary outcome was mental distress, the secondary outcomes were quality of life, coping, existential outcomes, fatigue, pain, and side effects. A comprehensive search of Medline, Web of Science, CENTRAL, PsycINFO, and DARE was performed, supplemented by handsearching. Random effects meta-analyses were performed separately for different types of control groups.
Results
Thirty-seven studies (5902 patients) were included. Were found small effects on mental distress in favor of group treatment (non-active control groups: n = 19, g = 0.42, 95% CI [0, 29; 0, 56], I 2 = 61.6%; active control conditions: n = 6, g = 0.20, 95% CI [0, 06; 0, 35], I 2 = 0 %). Day Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and third wave CBT group approaches proved to be the most effective.
Group treatments also showed beneficial effects on secondary outcomes, with deeper evidence on quality of life and coping.
conclusions
The results suggest that group interventions have the potential to reduce mental distress in women facing breast cancer. In light of the considerable heterogeneity of most study effects, more rigorous studies are needed to strengthen the promising evidence and trials examining the impact of patient and intervention characteristics on outcomes.
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Keywords: group therapy, CBT, breast cancer
