Effectiveness of brief-focused cognitive behavioral therapy in the reduction of cancer-related distress and emotive problems: A comparative study

Background. In recent years, there was an increase of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) oriented brief-focused psychological intervention protocols for the reduction of cancer-related emotive difficulties that oncological patients have to face almost every day and that could have a negative impact on medical treatment (Di Matteo, Lepper & Croghan, 2006; NCCN, 2015). Thus, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of a 10-session brief CBT (B-CBT-P) compared with a control group (CG). Methods. Participants (n = 67; mean age = 63.11, SD = 12.1, 35 female) enrolled at the Oncology Day Hospital at the \u201cPresidio Ospedaliero\u201d of Saronno, ASST Valle Olona, Italy who undertook (B-CBT-P: n = 34) or non-undertook (CG: n = 33) a psychotherapy intervention \u2013 with one of two different psychologists (authors MM and MI) to avoid potential biases. Participants were tested with the Distress Thermometer and the Problem List (DT&PL) at the baseline (T1; overall McDonald\u2019s omega = .90), at the end of the 10-sessions B-CBT-P (T2; overall McDonald\u2019s omega = .89). Results. A multilevel-multivariate repeated measure regression analysis was performed \u2013 controlling for age, type and localization of tumor, and therapist. In line with psychotherapy protocol, results showed no statistical significant changes for \u2018practical problems\u2019 (p = 0.0497 ns), \u2018spiritual problems\u2019 (p = 0.321 ns), and \u2018physical problems\u2019 (p = 0.206). Results revealed a statistical significance reduction of \u2018relationships problems\u2019 (p = 0.015; pooled Cohen\u2019s d = 0.341), \u2018emotive problems\u2019 (p = 0.012; pooled Cohen\u2019s d = 0.349), and the distress thermometer (p = 0.008; pooled Cohen\u2019s d = 0.373). Conclusions. Considering that emotive and relational problems, as well as distress, occurs frequently among oncological patients, this study is into an important area. Results suggest that B-CBT-P is statistically and clinically effective to improve the emotive and relational sphere of oncological patients. However, the small effect sizes found suggest that these short protocols may not be sufficient to bring important changes in the patient's life. This study opens up to the idea of improving these protocols so that the cancer patient can improve his quality of life \u2013 even with a few psychotherapy sessions

Effectiveness of psychological distress reduction with cognitive behavioral therapy for oncological patients: A one-year follow-up study

Background: Distress has a negative impact on medical treatment (Di Matteo, Lepper & Croghan, 2006) and it is considered one of the most important indexes of psychological suffering in oncological patients (NCCN, 2015). Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the long term effectiveness of brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for patients with cancer (CBT-C) compared with a control group (CG) of oncological patients without any psychotherapy intervention - at one year after a chemotherapy treatment. Methods: Participants (n = 80; mean age = 63.3, SD = 13.4; 54 female) enrolled at the Oncology Day Hospital at the \u201cPresidio Ospedaliero\u201d of Saronno, ASST Valle Olona, Italy who undertook (CBT-C: n = 40) or non-undertook (CG: n = 40) a psychotherapy intervention. Individual psychotherapy sessions strictly followed the IPOS guidelines (Watson & Kissane, 2017). Participants were tested with the Psychological distress Inventory (PDI) at the baseline (T1; Cronbach \u3b1 = .88) at the end of the chemotherapy treatment (T2; Cronbach \u3b1 = .87), at the end of the psychotherapy intervention (T3; Cronbach \u3b1 = .88), 6-month follow-up (T4; Cronbach \u3b1 = .85), and 1-year follow-up (T5; Cronbach \u3b1 = .84). Results: Multilevel growth curve modeling \u2013 controlling for age, number of sessions, type and localization of tumor \u2013 showed a sharper reduction of distress for CBT-C participants that continue after posttreatment until 1-year follow-up (p < .001); whereas for CG participants it reduced more gradually from pretreatment to 1-year follow-up (p < .001). The results revealed a significant difference between the linear slopes for each treatment condition (p < .001). The overall Hedges\u2019 g comparing the two groups for distress reduction between pretreatment and 1-year follow-up was 2.14 (p < .001) in favor of CBT-C. Conclusions: Given that psychological distress occurs frequently among oncological patients this study is into an important area of study. Results suggest that CBT-C is statistically and clinically effective in treating psychological distress 1 year after the chemotherapy treatment. These findings revealed a kind of long-term effectiveness psychological intervention able both to reduce psychological suffering and improve a better quality of life in oncological settings