Review: The effect of spiritual interventions addressing existential themes using a narrative approach on quality of life of cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2016)

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of spiritual interventions on quality of life of cancer patients.

We conducted our search on June 6, 2014 in Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, and PubMed. All clinical trials were included that compared standard care with a spiritual intervention that addressed existential themes using a narrative approach. Study quality was evaluated by the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool.

A total of 4972 studies were identified, of which 14 clinical trials (2050 patients) met the inclusion criteria, and 12 trials (1878 patients) were included in the meta-analysis. The overall risk of bias was high. When combined, all studies showed a moderate effect (d) 0.50 (95% CI = 0.20–0.79) 0–2 weeks after the intervention on overall quality of life in favor of the spiritual interventions. Meta-analysis at 3–6 months after the intervention showed a small insignificant effect (0.14, 95% CI = −0.08 to 0.35). Subgroup analysis including only the western studies showed a small effect of 0.17 (95% CI = 0.05–0.29). Including only studies that met the allocation concealment criteria showed an insignificant effect of 0.14 (95% CI = −0.05 to 0.33).

Directly after the intervention, spiritual interventions had a moderate beneficial effect in terms of improving quality of life of cancer patients compared with that of a control group. No evidence was found that the interventions maintained this effect up to 3–6 months after the intervention. Further research is needed to understand how spiritual interventions could contribute to a long-term effect of increasing or maintaining quality of life.