Cited by 135Cancer survivorship and careReligion, Spirituality, and PsychologyChildhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life

Efficacy of meaning-centered group psychotherapy for cancer survivors: a randomized controlled trial

Open access
van der Spek, N., Vos, J., van Uden-Kraan, C. F., Breitbart, W., Cuijpers, P., Holtmaat, K., Witte, B. I., Tollenaar, R. A. E. M. +1 more·2017·Psychological Medicine

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of meaning-centered group psychotherapy for cancer survivors (MCGP-CS) to improve personal meaning, compared with supportive group psychotherapy (SGP) and care as usual (CAU). METHOD: A total of 170 cancer survivors were randomly assigned to one of the three study arms: MCGP-CS (n = 57); SGP (n = 56); CAU (n = 57). The primary outcome measure was the Personal Meaning Profile (PMP; total score). Secondary outcome measures were subscales of the PMP, psychological well-being (Scales of Psychological Well-being; SPWB), post-traumatic growth (Posttraumatic Growth Inventory), Mental Adjustment to Cancer (MAC), optimism (Life Orientation Test-Revised), hopelessness (Beck's Hopelessness Scale), psychological distress (anxiety and depression, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; HADS) and quality of life (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire; EORTC QLQ-C30). Outcome measures were assessed before randomization, post-intervention, and after 3 and 6 months of follow-up (FU). RESULTS: Linear mixed model analyses (intention-to-treat) showed significant differences between MCGP-CS, SGP and CAU on the total PMP score, and on (sub)scales of the PMP, SPWB, MAC and HADS. Post-hoc analyses showed significantly stronger treatment effects of MCGP-CS compared with CAU on personal meaning (d = 0.81), goal-orientedness (d = 1.07), positive relations (d = 0.59), purpose in life (d = 0.69); fighting spirit (d = 0.61) (post-intervention) and helpless/hopeless (d = -0.87) (3 months FU); and distress (d = -0.6) and depression (d = -0.38) (6 months FU). Significantly stronger effects of MCGP-CS compared with SGP were found on personal growth (d = 0.57) (3 months FU) and environmental mastery (d = 0.66) (6 months FU). CONCLUSIONS: MCGP-CS is an effective intervention for cancer survivors to improve personal meaning, psychological well-being and mental adjustment to cancer in the short term, and to reduce psychological distress in the long run.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1017/s0033291717000447

Cites

41 of 41 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • MCP was more effective in improving goal-orientedness and fighting spirit compared to the Supportive Group, as well as personal growth and environmental mastery at the 6-month follow-up.

    “MCP was more effective in improving goal-orientedness and a fighting spirit compared to the Supportive Group, as well as personal growth and environmental mastery at the 6-month follow-up.”

    From Spanish Adaptation of Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Participants With Cancer: Study Protocol of a Randomized Control Trial (2022) · cites this paper as [9]

    The Results (Efficacy of MCGP-CS; page not provided) report stronger effects than the Supportive Group on personal growth at three months and environmental mastery at six months. Stronger effects on goal-orientedness and fighting spirit were reported relative to care as usual, not the Supportive Group. The claim therefore misstates both the comparator for two outcomes and the follow-up time for personal growth. (LLM, conf=0.93)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Accounting for an expected 30% dropout rate, the study requires a total sample size of 118 participants (59 per condition).

    “Finally, we have considered possible sample loss during the treatment program, and based on studies of interventions with MCP, we expect a 30% dropout rate (9). Therefore, taking this outcome into account, our study requires a total sample size of 118 participants (59 participants per experimental condition).”

    From Spanish Adaptation of Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Participants With Cancer: Study Protocol of a Randomized Control Trial (2022) · cites this paper as [9]

    The Methods > Sample size passage says the cited study anticipated 30% loss at follow-up, supporting the citing authors’ use of a 30% loss estimate. It does not describe 30% dropout during the treatment program; the 118-participant target is the citing authors’ own calculation, not a figure attributed to this source. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • In an RCT with cancer survivors and 6-month follow-up, MCP improved personal meaning, positive relations, purpose in life, fighting spirit, hopelessness, goal-orientedness, psychological wellbeing and adjustment, and reduced psychological distress and depressive symptoms more than TAU.

    “The results at the 6-month follow-up showed that the MCP treatment improved personal meaning, positive relations, purpose in life, a fighting spirit, hopelessness, goal-orientedness, and psychological wellbeing and adjustment, and it reduced psychological distress and depressive symptoms more than the TAU condition.”

    From Spanish Adaptation of Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Participants With Cancer: Study Protocol of a Randomized Control Trial (2022) · cites this paper as [9]

    The Results (Efficacy of MCGP-CS) report stronger effects than care as usual on the listed outcomes, but not all at the six-month follow-up: personal meaning, goal-orientedness, positive relations, purpose in life, and fighting spirit were reported post-intervention; helpless/hopeless at three months; and distress and depression at six months. The Results also report no significant group difference on the separate Beck’s Hopelessness Scale, so the claim’s unqualified reference to improved hopelessness is misleading. (LLM, conf=0.91)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Treatment efficacy studies have found a dropout rate of 30%.

    “Treatment efficacy studies have found a dropout rate of 30% (9), which can interfere with the development of the study as well as the type of statistical analysis that we can perform.”

    From Spanish Adaptation of Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Participants With Cancer: Study Protocol of a Randomized Control Trial (2022) · cites this paper as [9]

    The Methods (Sample size; page unavailable) anticipate a 30% loss to follow-up for planning purposes; they do not report a 30% dropout rate found by treatment efficacy studies. The Results (Study population; page unavailable) report that 74% completed the six-month follow-up, implying 26% did not. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Previous 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).”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 42 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Wong P 2010 The Human Quest for Meaning Wong Paul TP 2nd New York Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
van der Spek, N., Vos, J., van Uden-Kraan, C. F., Breitbart, W., Cuijpers, P., Holtmaat, K., Witte, B. I., Tollenaar, R. A. E. M., & Verdonck-de Leeuw, I. M.
Affiliations
  • University of Roehampton (GB)
  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (US)
  • Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
  • Leiden University Medical Center (NL)
Venue
Psychological Medicine
Published
2017-04-04
Volume
47
Issue
11
Pages
1990-2001
ISSN
  • 0033-2917 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-8978
OpenAlex
W2604525151
Cited by
135
References
42
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1
FWCI
4.34
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Psychological Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (publishedVersion)
  • VU Research Portal (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Leiden Repository (Leiden University) (submittedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (R41TR003571)
  • National Cancer Institute (P30CA008748)
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
  • Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life
Keywords
cancer survivors, personal meaning, psychological well-being, mental adjustment to cancer, psychological distress, posttraumatic growth, hopelessness, quality of life
MeSH terms
Optimism, Cancer Survivors, Adult, Aged, Anxiety, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Personal Satisfaction, Psychotherapy, Group, Quality of Life, Outcome Assessment, Health Care, Hope

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review