Meaning‐centered group psychotherapy for patients with advanced cancer: a pilot randomized controlled trial
Open accessAbstract
Objectives : An increasingly important concern for clinicians who care for patients at the end of life is their spiritual well‐being and sense of meaning and purpose in life. In response to the need for short‐term interventions to address spiritual well‐being, we developed Meaning Centered Group Psychotherapy (MCGP) to help patients with advanced cancer sustain or enhance a sense of meaning, peace and purpose in their lives, even as they approach the end of life. Methods : Patients with advanced (stage III or IV) solid tumor cancers ( N =90) were randomly assigned to either MCGP or a supportive group psychotherapy (SGP). Patients were assessed before and after completing the 8‐week intervention, and again 2 months after completion. Outcome assessment included measures of spiritual well‐being, meaning, hopelessness, desire for death, optimism/pessimism, anxiety, depression and overall quality of life. Results : MCGP resulted in significantly greater improvements in spiritual well‐being and a sense of meaning. Treatment gains were even more substantial (based on effect size estimates) at the second follow‐up assessment. Improvements in anxiety and desire for death were also significant (and increased over time). There was no significant improvement on any of these variables for patients participating in SGP. Conclusions : MCGP appears to be a potentially beneficial intervention for patients' emotional and spiritual suffering at the end of life. Further research, with larger samples, is clearly needed to better understand the potential benefits of this novel intervention. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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In an RCT, MCP was more effective than supportive psychotherapy in improving spiritual wellbeing, sense of meaning, and anxiety, and the treatment effects of MCP were stronger 2 months after treatment.
“In a randomized control trial (RCT), it was shown to be more effective than supportive psychotherapy in improving spiritual wellbeing, sense of meaning, and anxiety, and the treatment effects of MCP were stronger 2 months after treatment.”
From Spanish Adaptation of Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Participants With Cancer: Study Protocol of a Randomized Control Trial (2022) · cites this paper as [8]
The Results (page unavailable) report significantly greater improvements in spiritual well-being and meaning with meaning-centered group psychotherapy than with supportive group psychotherapy, and larger effect sizes at the two-month follow-up. Anxiety improved within the meaning-centered group by follow-up, but the Results report no significant between-group difference in anxiety improvement. Thus, the claim overstates the evidence for superiority on anxiety. (LLM, conf=0.90)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPrevious studies suggest that intervening in meaning in life in cancer patients can be an effective treatment to improve negative emotional states and lead to better coping with life after a cancer diagnosis.
“Therefore, previous studies suggest that intervening in meaning in life in cancer patients can be an effective treatment to improve the aforementioned negative emotional states and lead to better coping with life after a cancer diagnosis (8, 9).”
From Spanish Adaptation of Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Participants With Cancer: Study Protocol of a Randomized Control Trial (2022) · cites this paper as [8]
The Results and Discussion report that meaning-centered group psychotherapy for patients with advanced cancer modestly reduced some forms of distress, particularly anxiety at two-month follow-up. The paper does not show that this intervention improved coping with life after diagnosis; its Introduction discusses improved coping skills as a finding about group psychotherapy generally. It also cautions that a meaning-focused intervention may not be optimal for treating depression. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThere is robust evidence that group psychotherapeutic interventions are effective in reducing psychological distress, anxiety, depression, coping skills training, and suffering related to symptoms like pain, are efficient in time and resources, and promote social support.
“porque existe evidencia robusta de que las intervenciones psicoterapéuticas grupales son eficaces en la reducción del distrés psicológico, ansiedad, depresión, el entrenamiento en habilidades de afrontamiento y la reducción del sufrimiento relacionado con síntomas como el dolor, eficientes en cuanto inversión de tiempo y recursos (23,87)”
From AVANZACT: protocolo e intervención psicoterapéutica en cáncer avanzado basados en Terapia de Aceptación y Compromiso. (2025) · cites this paper as [87]
Split into 2 atoms — 1 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThere is robust evidence that group psychotherapeutic interventions are effective in reducing psychological distress, anxiety, depression, coping skills training, and suffering related to symptoms like pain, are efficient in time and resources, and promote social support.
“porque existe evidencia robusta de que las intervenciones psicoterapéuticas grupales son eficaces en la reducción del distrés psicológico, ansiedad, depresión, el entrenamiento en habilidades de afrontamiento y la reducción del sufrimiento relacionado con síntomas como el dolor, eficientes en cuanto inversión de tiempo y recursos (23,87)”
From AVANZACT: protocolo e intervención psicoterapéutica en cáncer avanzado basados en Terapia de Aceptación y Compromiso. (2025) · cites this paper as [88]
Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe intervention is a novel combination of traditional behavioral symptom coping strategies, home-based physical activity, strategies from contemporary cognitive-behavioral theory-based approaches like ACT and those to foster self-compassion, concepts from MCP, and strategies to improve communication and healthcare engagement.
“The intervention, developed with input from YA cancer survivors and oncology providers, is a novel combination of traditional behavioral symptom coping strategies, home-based physical activity, strategies from contemporary cognitive-behavioral theory-based approaches like ACT [34] and those to foster self-compassion, concepts from MCP [38–41], and strategies to improve communication and healthcare”
From Improving symptom management for survivors of young adult cancer: rationale and study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial (2024) · cites this paper as [40]
In that RCT, there were no significant differences in participants' depression.
“However, there were no significant differences in the participants' depression.”
From Spanish Adaptation of Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Participants With Cancer: Study Protocol of a Randomized Control Trial (2022) · cites this paper as [8]
Moderate levels of demoralization would likely respond well to psychotherapy.
“Regardless, moderate levels of demoralization would likely respond well to psychotherapy.47”
From A systematic review of the demoralization syndrome in individuals with progressive disease and cancer: a decade of research (2015) · cites this paper as [47]
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Life Program: Pilot Testing a Palliative Psychology Group Intervention.
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“Therefore, previous studies suggest that intervening in meaning in life in cancer patients can be an effective treatment to improve the aforementioned negative emotional states and lead to better coping with life after a cancer diagnosis (8, 9).”
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“Participants are guided through exercises to identify sources of meaning in their lives, reflect on their identity before and after cancer, and to understand the impact that cancer may have had on their sense of meaning [40].”
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- Authors
- Breitbart, W., Rosenfeld, B., Gibson, C., Pessin, H., Poppito, S., Nelson, C., Tomarken, A., Timm, A. K., Berg, A., Jacobson, C., Sorger, B., Abbey, J., & Olden, M.
- Affiliations
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (US)
- Fordham University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Breitbart, William
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psycho-Oncology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2009-12-23
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 21-28
- ISSN
- 1057-9249 (ISSN-L)
- 1099-1611
- PMC
- PMC3648880
- OpenAlex
- W2009540666
- Cited by
- 704
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 44 · 2025: 43 · 2024: 58 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 66 · 2019: 44 · 2018: 44 · 2017: 50 · 2016: 34 · 2015: 44 · 2014: 51 · 2013: 42 · 2012: 33
- FWCI
- 26.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psycho-Oncology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Cancer Institute (R01CA128187, P30CA008748)
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (R21AT001031, R21 AT/CA0103)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Palliative and Oncologic Care
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Keywords
- advanced cancer, spiritual well-being, meaning in life, end-of-life care, hopelessness, desire for death, anxiety, depression, quality of life, solid tumors
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Attitude to Death, Emotions, Female, Humans, Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin, Male, Middle Aged, Neoplasm Staging, Neoplasms, New York City, Palliative Care, Patient Compliance, Pilot Projects, Psychotherapy, Group, Self-Help Groups, Terminal Care, Patient Satisfaction, Spirituality, Young Adult
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