Psychological interventions for patients with leukemia who underwent chemotherapy enhanced mental health and improved their quality of life while receiving treatment, according to results from a recent study.
A team of researchers from The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University in Suzhou, China, conducted the study and published their findings in Frontiers in Psychology. As the “main treatment” for leukemia, chemotherapy has a high first remission rate in adult patients and can increase their survival time with the disease to 5 years or longer.
However, the investigators explained that “due to the lengthy process of chemotherapy, various adverse reactions may occur, leading to negative emotions such as anxiety, depression, and fear in patients, reducing their compliance with chemotherapy, and posing a great physical and psychological challenge to patients.”
To conduct the study, the investigators gathered data from PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, the Cochrane Library, CNKI, and Wanfang. They searched for additional randomized controlled trials “related to the treatment of psychological intervention on the quality of life and mental health of leukemia patients published from the establishment of the library until August 2024.”
Two researchers “independently screened” the data and evaluated the “methodological quality of the included literature” through the Cochrane 5.1 bias risk assessment tool, in addition to statistical data analysis.
The researchers evaluated 18 studies, including 1,792 patients. The studies evaluated the psychological status of patients through the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Self-Rating Depression Scale, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.
Among patients in the psychological intervention groups, results from the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale were “significantly lower” than those of the control group, and results from the Self-Rating Depression Scale were also “lower” than those of the control group. In addition, findings from the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 were higher in the intervention group, while results from the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were lower.
In reflecting on the results, the investigators noted that “for leukemia patients, sleep quality is an important consideration factor, as the treatment of the disease and related physiological and psychological changes may significantly affect the patient’s sleep.” They also explained that a family-centered psychological intervention model “can significantly improve the psychological state of leukemia patients, reduce anxiety and depression symptoms, and may indirectly improve sleep quality.”
“These findings highlight the importance of integrating psychological support into leukemia treatment to optimize patient outcomes and quality of life,” the researchers concluded.
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