Lo, Chris, Hales, Sarah, Jung, Judy, Chiu, Aubrey, Panday, Tania, Rydall, Anne, Nissim, Rinat, Malfitano, Carmine, Petricone-Westwood, Danielle, Zimmermann, Camilla, and Rodin, Gary (2014) Managing Cancer And Living Meaningfully (CALM): phase 2 trial of a brief individual psychotherapy in advanced cancer. Palliative Medicine, 28 (3). pp. 234-242.

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Abstract

Background: Advanced cancer brings substantial physical and psychosocial challenges that may contribute to emotional distress and diminish well-being. In this study, we present preliminary data concerning the effectiveness of a new brief individual psychotherapy, Managing Cancer And Living Meaningfully (CALM), designed to help individuals cope with this circumstance.

Aim: To test the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of CALM to reduce emotional distress and promote psychological well-being and growth.

Design: CALM is a brief, manualized, semi-structured individual psychotherapy for patients with advanced cancer. This study employed a phase 2 intervention-only design. The primary outcome was depressive symptoms and the secondary outcomes were death anxiety, attachment security, spiritual well-being and psychological growth. These were assessed at 3 months (t1) and 6 months (t2). Multilevel regression was used to model change over time.

Setting/participants: A total of 50 patients with advanced or metastatic cancer were recruited from the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Canada.

Results: A total of 39 patients (78%) were assessed at baseline, 24 (48%) at t1, and 16 (32%) at t2. Analyses revealed reductions over time in depressive symptoms: beta = −0.13, confidence interval (CI.95) = (−0.23, −0.022) and death anxiety: beta = −0.23, CI.95 (−0.40, −0.061); and an increase in spiritual well-being: beta = 0.14, CI.95 (0.026, 0.26).

Conclusions: CALM may be a feasible intervention to benefit patients with advanced cancer. The results are encouraging, despite attrition and small effect sizes, and support further study.

Item ID:	69168
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1477-030X
Copyright Information:	© The Author(s) 2013.
Date Deposited:	29 Aug 2024 02:33
FoR Codes:	52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5203 Clinical and health psychology > 520304 Health psychology @ 100%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2001 Clinical health > 200105 Treatment of human diseases and conditions @ 100%
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