"A systematic review of the effects of internet-based psychological interventions on emotional distress and quality of life in adult cancer patients"
Open accessAbstract
The aim of the present systematic review is to evaluate the effects of webbased psychological interventions tested via randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on improving patient-reported psychological distress and quality of life (QOL) among adult cancer patients compared to control conditions and evaluate the quality of the intervention studies.We conducted this review using preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, searching five databases for RCT of web-based interventions for oncology patients that included a patient-reported psychological distress and/or QOL outcome.We assessed the quality of the included studies using the Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies.Our search identified nineteen RCTs involving 4084 patients diagnosed with primary cancer investigating web-based psychological interventions.Quality-wise, six studies received a "strong" rating, eight received a "moderate" rating and five of the studies received a "weak" rating.Evidence indicates mixed support for these interventions to improve psychological distress and QOL in cancer patients' samples.Web-based delivery format show potential in effective management of psychological distress and QOL in cancer patients.Still, due to heterogeneity in interventions tested and targeted populations, additional high-quality studies and further clarifications are needed for these treatments to be considered empirically supported treatments.
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More evidence for breast cancer survivors is needed.
“but more evidence for breast cancer survivors is needed [22–24].”
From The BrEasT cancer afTER-CARE (BETTER-CARE) programme to improve breast cancer follow-up: design and feasibility study results of a cluster-randomised complex intervention trial (2024) · cites this paper as [23]
The Abstract (page unavailable) calls for additional high-quality studies of web-based psychological interventions for adult cancer patients. The Participants characteristics section (page unavailable) includes breast cancer and survivorship studies, but the review does not specifically say that more evidence is needed for breast cancer survivors. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredInternet-based interventions can be an effective way to support people with cancer.
“Internet-based interventions can be an effective way to support people with cancer.”
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Cited by
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Shaygan, M., Yazdani, Z., & Valibeygi, A. (2021) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-021-03085-6 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Leslie, M. R., Beatty, L., Hulbert‐Williams, L., Pendrous, R., Cartwright, T., Jackson, R., The Finding My Way UK Trial Steering Group, & Hulbert-Williams, N. J. (2022) · JMIR Cancer · doi:10.2196/36255 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“The review that included the largest number of relevant original studies found significant QoL improvement over a control group in 3 out of 10 (30%) studies that fell within the scope of this meta-review [37].”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSchäfer, A., Jírů-Hillmann, S., Widmann, J., Montellano, F. A., Salmen, J., Pryss, R., Wöckel, A., & Heuschmann, P. U. (2025) · Journal of Cancer Survivorship · doi:10.1007/s11764-023-01470-6 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
“A systematic review of psychological eHealth interventions for cancer patients suggests that interventions well attuned to the needs of their participants were more efficient [16].”
Fournier, V., Duprez, C., Grynberg, D., Antoine, P., & Lamore, K. (2023) · Cancer Medicine · doi:10.1002/cam4.6695 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“Sixteen reported results from adult patients with cancer undergoing active treatment (diverse localizations 18–26 and breast cancer 27,28 ), patients with an advanced stage of the disease, 29 or cancer survivors 30–33 ; two reviews were related to pediatric cancers (diverse cancer localizations for…”
BackgroundGitonga, I., Desmond, D. M., Duda, N., & Maguire, R. (2022) · Psycho-Oncology · doi:10.1002/pon.6019 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Nicolescu, S., Secară, E.-C., Jiboc, N. M., & Băban, A. (2024) · Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science · doi:10.1016/j.jcbs.2024.100729 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Self-citationKrakowczyk, J. B., Truijens, F. L., Teufel, M., Lalgi, T. J., Heinen, J., Schug, C., Erim, Y., Pantförder, M., Graf, J., & Bäuerle, A. (2024) · JMIR Cancer · doi:10.2196/53117 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Efficacy research shows that purely self-guided eHealth interventions are associated with smaller effect sizes with a lower completion rate compared to blended therapy interventions, which can be attributed to the missing therapist interaction [78,79].”
BackgroundOccupational Therapy Practice Guidelines for Adults Living With and Beyond Cancer
Newman, R. M., Polo, K. M., Amanat, Y., Campbell, C., Fleischer, A. B., & Morikawa, S. (2024) · American Journal of Occupational Therapy · doi:10.5014/ajot.2024.078501 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Gityamwi, N., Armes, J., Harris, J., Ream, E., Green, R., Ahankari, A. S., Callwood, A., Ip, A., Cockle‐Hearne, J., Grosvenor, W., et al. (2025) · PLOS Digital Health · doi:10.1371/journal.pdig.0000806 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“Under recruitment in online studies has been reported elsewhere and the recruitment strategy employed seems to play a role in recruitment outcomes [160,161].”
Schäfer, A., Wendel, J., Franke, I., Bauer, A., Baumeister, H., Bendig, E., Brucker, S. Y., Deutsch, T. M., Garatva, P., Haas, K., et al. (2024) · Trials · doi:10.1186/s13063-024-08614-8 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
COVID ‐19 and beyond: A systematic review of adaptations to psychosocial support in oncology
Martin, M., Rice, K., Murray, C., Thorsteinsson, E., & Usher, K. J. (2024) · Journal of Advanced Nursing · doi:10.1111/jan.16175 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Technology-based psychosocial education for cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Saragih, I. S., Tzeng, H., Susanto, I., & Saragih, I. D. (2026) · Journal of research in nursing · doi:10.1177/17449871261442808 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Firstly, digital interventions offer opportunities for personalisation, which enhances user relevance and motivation (Golita and Baban, 2019; Zhang et al., 2022).”
Amanat, Y., Newman, R. M., & Morikawa, S. (2023) · American Journal of Occupational Therapy · doi:10.5014/ajot.2023.77s10035 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Pereira, D., Silva, E. R., Carvalho-Maia, C., Monteiro-Reis, S., Lourenço, C., Calisto, R., Teixeira, R. J., Carlson, L. E., Bart, G., Vainio, S. J., et al. (2021) · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-968587/v1
Hsiao, F., Lo, C., Kuo, W., Hsieh, C., & Huang, C. (2026) · Internet Interventions · doi:10.1016/j.invent.2026.100947
“Although online-based methods offer greater accessibility than face-to-face therapy without compromising program effectiveness, they still face challenges related to high attrition rates (Nicolescu and Baban, 2019; Compen et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2020a, 2020b).”
- Authors
- GOLIȚĂ, S., The Department of Psychology, B.-B. U., BĂBAN, A., & The Department of Psychology, B.-B. U.
- Affiliations
- Babeș-Bolyai University (RO)
- Venue
- Journal of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies
- Publisher
- Babes-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca
- Published
- 2019-09-01
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 47-78
- ISSN
- 2360-0853 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3008139581
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2
- FWCI
- 1.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation
- Keywords
- online psychological intervention, online intervention, psychological distress, quality of life, cancer patients, patient-reported outcomes, digital mental health
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