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Efficacy of meaning-centered group psychotherapy for cancer survivors: a randomized controlled trial
Open accessAbstract
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.
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“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]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
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“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]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“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]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
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“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]
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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).”
From Spanish Adaptation of Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Participants With Cancer: Study Protocol of a Randomized Control Trial (2022) · cites this paper as [9]
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Citations
Cites
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Self-citation
Research works printed but not linked: 5
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- Spiegel, 1991, Supportive-Expressive Group Therapy: A Treatment Manual of Psychosocial Intervention for Women with Recurrent Breast Cancer
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“Van der Spek et al. (2017) subsequently adapted MCP for cancer survivors.”
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Zhang, H., & Li, L. (2025) · Psycho-Oncologie · doi:10.18282/po4618
Rosa, W. E., Napolitano, S., McAndrew, N., Jenkins, B., Lichtenthal, W. G., Applebaum, A. J., BREITBART, W. S., & Agrawal, M. (2025) · Psychedelic Medicine · doi:10.1177/28314425251363983
Γκιόκα, Μ., Nisyraiou, A., Bozas, A., Vasilopoulou, M., Stavrogianni, K., Karekla, M., Zaharia, M., Iatrou, A., & Karamanidou, C. (2026) · Cureus · doi:10.7759/cureus.102873
“Several psychotherapeutic interventions, including third-wave therapies such as meaning therapy, mindfulness, and ACT, have shown promise in enhancing PTG in cancer populations [28-30].”
Geng, J., Li, C., & Zhou, H. (2026) · Psychology and Health · doi:10.1080/08870446.2026.2643680
Martínez, E. Y., Scoppetta, O., Montoya, M. J., & del Castillo, C. (2026) · Counselling and Psychotherapy Research · doi:10.1002/capr.70158
Liu, H.-Y., & Chen, H.-P. (2026) · Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Science · doi:10.15640/jpbs.v14p2
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“] Other studies were conducted in Australia, [60,70] India, [71] the Netherlands, [72] Romania, [73] and the United Kingdom.”
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Boutry, C., Covington, M., Kochar, A., Nicholson, A., Thorpe, N., & Moghaddam, N. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1830770
“…(ACT) are designed to help patients by reducing unhelpful experiential avoidance and increasing psychological flexibility (the ability to draw on a broader and more workable repertoire of coping responses) (Arch et al., 2021; Van der Spek et al., 2017; Zhao et al., 2021; Brabbins et al., 2020).”
Gwon, T., & Jung, H. O. (2026) · Palliative & Supportive Care · doi:10.1017/s1478951526103599
“…some focused on a single construct such as meaning in life (Sun et al. 2021, 2022), whereas others assessed a broader panel of existential variables, including SWB, quality of life, purpose, and posttraumatic growth (Breitbart et al. 2010, 2012; van der Spek et al. 2017; Kissane et al. 2023).”
Influential
Metadata
- 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
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2017-04-04
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1990-2001
- ISSN
- 0033-2917 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8978
- PMC
- PMC5501751
- 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
- FWCI
- 4.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- research.vu.nl
- Licence
- 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
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