A Systematic Review Exploring the Effectiveness of Mindfulness for Sexual Functioning in Women with Cancer
Open accessAbstract
Sexual intimacy is a basic human need that is associated with quality of life whereby its absence can significantly impact both interpersonal and personal wellbeing. This systematic review aimed to provide an up-to-date evaluation of the available literature on mindfulness treatments for sexual functioning in women diagnosed with cancer. Electronic searches including PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science and registered clinical trials yielded 10 studies that met the inclusion criteria. The results showed that treatment intervention designs varied and included mixed methods, randomised clinical trials, single arm non-randomised trials and those with the absence of any control. Furthermore, both brief and longer-term mindfulness interventions were trialled across different sexual domains. Whilst inconclusive, mindfulness-based interventions appear to support sexual function and quality of life in both early- and post-cancer survivors. However, in some instances, there were outcome inconsistencies in sexual desire, arousal and orgasm. This review has identified a current shortage in research on the effectiveness of mindfulness-based treatments for supporting sexual functioning in women with cancer; and so far, no research has been conducted in palliative care. This unmet need in supporting sexual functioning in women with cancer, including palliative care, carries important implications for both psychosexual and oncological healthcare services as sexual intimacy does not end with cancer diagnosis or prognosis.
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.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
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.
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?
Oncology trials combining self-care and self-hypnosis report sustained improvements in fatigue, sleep, and distress.
“while oncology trials combining self-care and self-hypnosis report sustained improvements in fatigue, sleep, and distress (37).”
From Mindfulness and clinical hypnotherapy in sexual desire disorders: mechanisms, psychophysiological pathways, and integrative therapeutic sequencing (2026) · cites this paper as [37]
The Introduction (page unavailable) reports reduced fatigue in cancer patients receiving mindfulness therapy and reduced distress in a mindfulness pilot study, with benefits continuing at three-month follow-up. It does not describe trials combining self-care and self-hypnosis or report improved sleep, so those parts of the claim are unsupported. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredEvidence from adjacent medical domains supports mechanistic plausibility regarding stress regulation and attentional modulation.
“Evidence from adjacent medical domains supports mechanistic plausibility regarding stress regulation and attentional modulation (15, 19, 27, 34, 36, 37).”
From Mindfulness and clinical hypnotherapy in sexual desire disorders: mechanisms, psychophysiological pathways, and integrative therapeutic sequencing (2026) · cites this paper as [37]
Most of the evidence supporting hypnosis derives from adjacent domains involving procedural distress, expectancy modulation, and stress regulation.
“Most of the evidence supporting hypnosis derives from adjacent domains involving procedural distress, expectancy modulation, and stress regulation (15, 27, 36, 37).”
From Mindfulness and clinical hypnotherapy in sexual desire disorders: mechanisms, psychophysiological pathways, and integrative therapeutic sequencing (2026) · cites this paper as [37]
The Introduction and Results discuss mindfulness interventions for sexual functioning in women with cancer, not evidence supporting hypnosis. Searches for hypnosis, procedural distress, expectancy modulation, and stress regulation found no passage addressing the attributed claim. (LLM, conf=0.76)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
American Psychiatric Association (2013) · doi:10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596 · Cited by 116,369 · see citing works
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: the PRISMA statement
Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., & for the PRISMA Group (2009) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.b2535 · Cited by 83,823 · see citing works
Siegel, R. L., Miller, K. D., & Jemal, A. (2018) · CA A Cancer Journal for Clinicians · doi:10.3322/caac.21442 · Cited by 16,632 · see citing works
Rosen, C. B. (2000) · Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy · doi:10.1080/009262300278597 · Cited by 6,593 · see citing works
Making psychological theory useful for implementing evidence based practice: a consensus approach
Michie, S. (2005) · Quality and Safety in Health Care · doi:10.1136/qshc.2004.011155 · Cited by 3,440 · see citing works
Quality of life: Its definition and measurement
Felce, D., & Perry, J. (1995) · Research in Developmental Disabilities · doi:10.1016/0891-4222(94)00028-8 · Cited by 1,775 · see citing works
Innovative approaches for cancer treatment: current perspectives and new challenges
Pucci, C., Martinelli, C., & Ciofani, G. (2019) · ecancermedicalscience · doi:10.3332/ecancer.2019.961 · Cited by 832 · see citing works
Derogatis, L. R., Rosen, R. C., Leiblum, S. R., Burnett, A. L. “., & Heiman, J. R. (2002) · Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy · doi:10.1080/00926230290001448 · Cited by 795 · see citing works
Muka, T., Glišić, M., Milić, J., Verhoog, S., Bohlius, J., Bramer, W. M., Chowdhury, R., & Franco, O. H. (2019) · European Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s10654-019-00576-5 · Cited by 682 · see citing works
Cillessen, L., Johannsen, M., Speckens, A. E. M., & Zachariae, R. (2019) · Psycho-Oncology · doi:10.1002/pon.5214 · Cited by 326 · see citing works
A psychoeducational intervention for sexual dysfunction in women with gynecologic cancer.
Brotto, L. A., Heiman, J. R., Goff, B., Greer, B., Lentz, G. M., Swisher, E., Tamimi, H., & Van Blaricom, A. (2008) · Archives of Sexual Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10508-007-9196-x · Cited by 278 · see citing works
Brotto, L. A., Erskine, Y., Carey, M., Ehlen, T., Finlayson, S., Heywood, M., Kwon, J., McAlpine, J., Stuart, G., Thomson, S., et al. (2012) · Gynecologic Oncology · doi:10.1016/j.ygyno.2012.01.035 · Cited by 269 · see citing works
Xunlin, N., Lau, Y., & Klainin-Yobas, P. (2020) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-019-05219-9 · Cited by 243 · see citing works
Quality of life and sexual functioning after cervical cancer treatment: a long‐term follow‐up study
Greimel, E., Winter, R., Kapp, K. S., & Haas, J. G. (2008) · Psycho-Oncology · doi:10.1002/pon.1426 · Cited by 216 · see citing works
Weinfurt, K. P., Lin, L., Bruner, D. W., Cyranowski, J. M., Dombeck, C. B., Hahn, E. A., Jeffery, D. D., Luecht, R. M., Magasi, S., Porter, L. S., et al. (2015) · The Journal of Sexual Medicine · doi:10.1111/jsm.12966 · Cited by 196 · see citing works
Zhang, M.-F., Wen, Y.-S., Liu, W.-Y., Peng, L.-F., Wu, X.-D., & Liu, Q.-W. (2015) · Medicine · doi:10.1097/md.0000000000000897 · Cited by 172 · see citing works
Clayton, A. H., Segraves, R. T., Leiblum, S. R., Basson, R. J., Pyke, R. E., Cotton, D., Lewis-D’Agostino, D. J., Evans, K., Sills, T. L., & Wunderlich, G. R. (2006) · Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy · doi:10.1080/00926230500442300 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Effects of Mindfulness-Based Therapies for Female Sexual Dysfunction: A Meta-Analytic Review
Stephenson, K. R., & Kerth, J. (2017) · The Journal of Sex Research · doi:10.1080/00224499.2017.1331199 · Cited by 145 · see citing works
Maiorino, M. I., Chiodini, P., Bellastella, G., Giugliano, D., & Esposito, K. (2015) · Endocrine · doi:10.1007/s12020-015-0812-6 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Oberoi, S., Yang, J., Woodgate, R. L., Niraula, S., Banerji, S., Israels, S. J., Altman, G., Beattie, S., Rabbani, R., Askin, N., et al. (2020) · JAMA Network Open · doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.12598 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Demarzo, M., Montero-Marin, J., Puebla-Guedea, M., Navarro-Gil, M., Herrera-Mercadal, P., Moreno-González, S., Calvo-Carrión, S., Bafaluy-Franch, L., & Garcia-Campayo, J. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01343 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
The role of sexual mindfulness in sexual wellbeing, Relational wellbeing, and self-esteem
Leavitt, C. E., Lefkowitz, E. S., & Waterman, E. A. (2019) · Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy · doi:10.1080/0092623x.2019.1572680 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Introducing RAPTOR: RevMan parsing tool for reviewers
Schmidt, L., Shokraneh, F., Steinhausen, K., & Adams, C. E. (2019) · Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1186/s13643-019-1070-0 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Burychka, D., Miragall, M., & Baños, R. (2021) · Psychologica Belgica · doi:10.5334/pb.1057 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Bober, S. L., Recklitis, C. J., Bakan, J., Garber, J. E., & Patenaude, A. F. (2014) · The Journal of Sexual Medicine · doi:10.1111/jsm.12713 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Braden, B. B., Pipe, T. B., Smith, R., Glaspy, T. K., Deatherage, B. R., & Baxter, L. C. (2016) · Brain and Behavior · doi:10.1002/brb3.443 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
How do Iranian Women with Breast Cancer Conceptualize Sex and Body Image?
Garrusi, B., & Faezee, H. (2008) · Sexuality and Disability · doi:10.1007/s11195-008-9092-x · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Online-based interventions for sexual health among individuals with cancer: a systematic review
Kang, H. S., Kim, H. K., Park, S. M., & Kim, J. (2018) · BMC Health Services Research · doi:10.1186/s12913-018-2972-6 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Bober, S. L., Fine, E., & Recklitis, C. J. (2019) · Journal of Cancer Survivorship · doi:10.1007/s11764-019-00800-x · Cited by 55 · see citing works
The Relationship Between Body Image and Sexual Function in Middle-Aged Women
Afshari, P., Houshyar, Z., Javadifar, N., Pourmotahari, F., & Jorfi, M. (2016) · Electronic physician · doi:10.19082/3302 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Brotto, L. A., Dunkley, C. R., Breckon, E., Carter, J., Brown, C. J., Daniluk, J. C., & Miller, D. M. (2016) · Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy · doi:10.1080/0092623x.2016.1230805 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Stafford, L., Foley, E., Judd, F., Gibson, P., Kiropoulos, L., & Couper, J. (2013) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-013-1880-x · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Understanding and Managing Erectile Dysfunction in Patients Treated for Cancer
Voznesensky, M. A., Annam, K., & Kreder, K. J. (2016) · Journal of Oncology Practice · doi:10.1200/jop.2016.010678 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Banbury, S., Lusher, J., Snuggs, S., & Chandler, C. (2023) · Sexual and Relationship Therapy · doi:10.1080/14681994.2021.1883578 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
van Driel, C., de Bock, G., Schroevers, M., & Mourits, M. (2019) · BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology · doi:10.1111/1471-0528.15471 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Chang, Y., Lin, G., Yeh, T., Chang, Y., Yang, C.-H., Lo, C., Yeh, C., & Hu, W. (2022) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-021-06540-y · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Bagherzadeh, R., Sohrabineghad, R., Gharibi, T., Mehboodi, F., & Vahedparast, H. (2020) · Sexuality and Disability · doi:10.1007/s11195-020-09660-1 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Rycroft-Malone, J., Gradinger, F., Griffiths, H. O., Crane, R., Gibson, A., Mercer, S., Anderson, R., & Kuyken, W. (2017) · Health Services and Delivery Research · doi:10.3310/hsdr05140 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Digitale Gesundheit und Pflege
Jedamzik, S. (2019) · Der Unfallchirurg · doi:10.1007/s00113-019-0672-2 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Gorman, J. R., Drizin, J. H., Smith, E., Corey, S. L., Temple, M., & Rendle, K. A. S. (2022) · The Journal of Sexual Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.jsxm.2022.03.618 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Sears, C. S., Millman, R. D., Brotto, L. A., & Walker, L. M. (2022) · Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy · doi:10.1080/0092623x.2022.2154296 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Sexual Behavior and Sexual Satisfaction according to Gender in Korean Patients with Cancer
Kim, J. H., & Kim, H. K. (2014) · Korean journal of women health nursing/Yeoseong geon'gang ganho hag'hoeji/Yeoseong geon-gang ganho hakoeji · doi:10.4069/kjwhn.2014.20.2.137 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Brotto, L. A., Atallah, S., Carvalho, J., Gordon, E., Pascoal, P. M., Reda, M., Stephenson, K. R., & Tavares, I. M. (2024) · Sexual Medicine Reviews · doi:10.1093/sxmrev/qeae073 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
From diagnosis to survivorship addressing the sexuality of women during cancer
Kaufman, R. A., Agrawal, L. S., Teplinsky, E., Kiel, L., Abioye, O. F., & Florez, N. (2024) · The Oncologist · doi:10.1093/oncolo/oyae242 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Wang, H., Wang, H., Kwok, J. Y. Y., Tang, S., & Sun, M. (2025) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2025.04.029 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Banbury, S. A., Tharmalingam, H., Lusher, J. M., Erridge, S., & Chandler, C. (2024) · Medicina · doi:10.3390/medicina60122020 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Mindfulness-Based Intervention Effects on EEG and Executive Functions: A Systematic Review
Galindo-Aldana, G., Montoya-Rivera, L. A., Esqueda-Elizondo, J. J., Inzunza-González, E., García-Guerrero, E. E., Padilla-López, A., Bautista, T. G., & Torres-González, C. (2025) · Brain Sciences · doi:10.3390/brainsci15030324 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Zimmaro, L. A., Nicklawsky, A., Lepore, S. J., & Reese, J. B. (2025) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-025-09812-z · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Stompe, T., Ritter, N., & Kostenwein, W. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1798650
“Most of the evidence supporting hypnosis derives from adjacent domains involving procedural distress, expectancy modulation, and stress regulation (15, 27, 36, 37).”
Sun, Q.-Q., Ke, F.-F., Zhou, H., Zhou, S., Lu, J., & Gao, M. (2025) · World Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.5498/wjp.v15.i12.112655
Integrative approaches to sexual health in oncology care
Acquati, C., Washington, S. L., Lindsey, J. P., & Goltz, H. H. (2026) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-443-30194-0.00029-1
Banbury, S. A., Hutchison, P., & Chandler, C. (2026) · PEC Global · doi:10.1016/j.pecglo.2026.100005
Tandoğan, Ö., Ak, E. Y., & Ogul, Z. (2026) · Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy · doi:10.1080/0092623x.2026.2710319
- Authors
- Banbury, S., Chandler, C., & Lusher, J.
- Affiliations
- London Metropolitan University (GB)
- Regent's University London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Lusher, Joanne
- Venue
- Psych
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2023-02-20
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 194-208
- ISSN
- 2624-8611 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4321456791
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3
- FWCI
- 0.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Psych (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- London Met Repository (London Metropolitan University) (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Sexual function and dysfunction studies
- Keywords
- mindfulness-based interventions, sexual function, women with cancer, sexual desire, sexual arousal, orgasm, quality of life, cancer survivors, palliative care, sexual intimacy, psychosexual health
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
