A randomized controlled trial on the efficacy of life review therapy targeting incurably ill cancer patients: do their informal caregivers benefit?

Purpose: Investigate whether Life Review Therapy and Memory Specificity Training (LRT-MST) targeting incurably ill cancer patients may also have a beneficial effect on caregiving burden, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and posttraumatic growth of the informal caregivers.

Methods: Data was collected in the context of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) (secondary analyses) on the effect of LRT-MST among incurably cancer patients. Informal caregivers of participating patients were asked to complete outcome measures at baseline (T0), post-intervention (T1), and 1-month follow-up (T2): caregiver burden (caregivers reaction assessment scale (CRA)), symptoms of anxiety and depression (hospital anxiety and depression scale), and posttraumatic growth (posttraumatic growth inventory).

Patients' experiences of life review therapy combined with memory specificity training (LRT-MST) targeting cancer patients in palliative care.

Purpose: Life review therapy combined with memory specificity training (LRT-MST) is effective in cancer patients in palliative care, but the effect size is moderate. The aim of this qualitative study was to obtain more in-depth knowledge on motivation to start with LRT-MST, experiences with LRT-MST, and perceived outcomes of LRT-MST.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 cancer patients in palliative care who participated in a randomized controlled trial investigating the effect of LRT-MST.

The efficacy of Life Review Therapy combined with Memory Specificity Training (LRT-MST) targeting cancer patients in palliative care: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of an intervention combining Life Review Therapy (LRT) and Memory Specificity Training (MST) (LRT-MST) to improve ego-integrity and despair among cancer patients in palliative care.

Methods: In this multicentre randomized controlled trial, cancer patients in palliative care were randomized to the intervention group (LRT-MST; n = 55) or waiting-list control group (n = 52). LRT-MST is a 4-session home-based psychological intervention that aims to retrieve specific positive memories, to re-evaluate life events and to reconstruct the story of a patient's life, including the diagnosis of incurable cancer.

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of meaning-centered group psychotherapy in cancer survivors: protocol of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Meaning-focused coping may be at the core of adequate adjustment to life after cancer. Cancer survivors who experience their life as meaningful are better adjusted, have better quality of life and psychological functioning. Meaning-Centered Group Psychotherapy for Cancer Survivors (MCGP-CS) was designed to help patients to sustain or enhance a sense of meaning and purpose in their lives.