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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psycho-Oncology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1488586
This article is part of the Research Topic Spirituality and Religion: Implications for Mental Health View all 31 articles

The efficacy of Internet-based cognitive behavior therapy for psychological health and quality of life among breast cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Provisionally accepted
Tang Lin Tang Lin 1Yin Ping Yin Ping 1*Cai Ming Jing Cai Ming Jing 1*Zhi Xiao Xu Zhi Xiao Xu 2*Zhu Ping Zhu Ping 2*
  • 1 Northern Jiangsu People's Hospital, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
  • 2 Jiangsu Cancer Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective To systematically investigate the effect of Internet-based cognitivebehavioral therapy (ICBT) on depression, anxiety, fatigue and quality of life (QOL) in patients with breast cancer (BC).Methods A systematic review with meta-analysis and qualitative evidence synthesis was performed. Ten databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, JBI Chinese Biomedical database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP, and Wanfang, were searched from the start till August 2023. Published studies in English or Chinese were eligible for randomized and clinical controlled trials determining the efficacy of ICBT among BC survivors. The quality of the evidence was evaluated at the study level and the outcome level.In total, 11 clinical trials on 1,307 patients with BC (ICBT: 671, control: 636) were systematically reviewed. We found that ICBT is effective in alleviating psychological distress in BC survivors, and the quality of all studies was moderate. The meta-analysis indicated that ICBT affected primary outcomes of anxiety (standardized mean difference [SMD] = -0.71, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -1.19, -0.24, p＜ 0.0001), depression (SMD = -0.67, 95% CI: -1.07, -0.27, p＜0.0001), fatigue (SMD = -1.23, 95% CI: -2.37, -0.08, p＜0.0001) and QOL (SMD = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.21, 1.37, p＜0.00001),This meta-analysis indicates that ICBT, as a type of psychosocial rehabilitation, can mitigate the incidence of depression, anxiety, and fatigue and improve the quality of life among patients with BC. Nevertheless, the effect is not distinct, and multi-centered randomized controlled trials with larger cohorts are warranted to verify the effectiveness of ICBT.

    Keywords: Internet, cognitive behavior therapy, Mental Health, Quality of Life, breast cancer, Systematic review, Meta-analysis

    Received: 30 Aug 2024; Accepted: 23 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lin, Ping, Jing, Xu and Ping. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Yin Ping, Northern Jiangsu People's Hospital, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
    Cai Ming Jing, Northern Jiangsu People's Hospital, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
    Zhi Xiao Xu, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, Jiangsu Province, China
    Zhu Ping, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, Jiangsu Province, China

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