Effects of meaning-based psychotherapy on post-traumatic growth and death anxiety in patients with cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality in the world which imposes numerous psychological burdens on the patients. Psycho-spiritual interventions such as meaning-based therapies may help decrease these challenges. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to investigate the effects of meaning-based psychotherapy on post-traumatic growth and death anxiety of patients with cancer.

METHODS: PubMed, Scopus, Proquest, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched until 30 September 2023. The Cochrane Collaboration's tool was used to assess the quality of the included studies. A random-effect model was preferred, and statistical analysis was performed by STATA software version 17.

RESULTS: A total of 17 studies were included in the systematic review. Eleven articles examined the impact of meaning-based interventions on death anxiety and six articles examined post-traumatic growth in cancer patients. Ten studies with a total of 555 participants were included for analysis of the effect of logotherapy versus routine care on death anxiety. Analysis showed a significant decrease effect of logotherapy versus routine care on death anxiety (SMD, - 4.05 (- 6.20, - 1.90); I2 , 98.38%). Three studies with a total of 364 participants were included for analysis of the effect of logotherapy versus routine care on post-traumatic growth in patients with cancer. Analysis showed a positive but non-significant effect of logotherapy versus routine care on post-traumatic growth (SMD, 2.05 (- 0.91, 5.01); I2 , 99.08%).

CONCLUSION: The qualitative analysis showed the positive impact of meaning-based psychotherapy interventions on death anxiety and post-traumatic growth in cancer patients, but the results of the meta-analysis on post-traumatic growth were not statistically significant. The review shows the need for more clinical trial studies in larger and more diverse samples in terms of cancer types and cultural background.