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Economic evaluations of psychosocial interventions in cancer: a systematic review
Author(s) -
Dieng Mbathio,
Cust Anne E.,
Kasparian Nadine A.,
Mann Graham J.,
Morton Rachael L.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
psycho‐oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.41
H-Index - 137
eISSN - 1099-1611
pISSN - 1057-9249
DOI - 10.1002/pon.4075
Subject(s) - psychosocial , psychological intervention , distress , quality of life (healthcare) , medicine , cost effectiveness , mood , health care , quality adjusted life year , clinical psychology , psychiatry , nursing , risk analysis (engineering) , economics , economic growth
Objective Although the effectiveness of many psychosocial interventions for people with cancer has been established, one barrier to implementation in routine clinical care is a lack of data on cost‐effectiveness. We conducted a systematic review to assess the cost‐effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for improving psychological adjustment among people with cancer. Methods A systematic review of the literature, study appraisal and narrative synthesis. Results Eight studies involving 1668 patients were identified. Four of these reported outcomes in a cost per quality adjusted life year (QALY) framework. Six studies reported psychosocial interventions to be cost‐effective for improving health‐related quality of life, mood, pain, distress or fear of cancer progression, compared with usual care. Of the six psychosocial interventions identified as cost‐effective, three were cognitive‐behavioural therapy‐based interventions, one was a nurse‐delivered telephone follow‐up plus educational group programme, one was a group‐based exercise and psychosocial intervention and one was a series of 10 face‐to‐face or telephone‐based individual support sessions delivered by a nurse. The quality of studies assessed according to the Consensus Health Economic Criteria‐list criteria was good overall; however, some studies were limited by their choice of outcome measure and omission of important categories of costs. Conclusions Several psychosocial interventions, particularly those based on cognitive‐behavioural therapy, have been demonstrated to represent good value for money in cancer care. Future research should include a clear definition of the economic question, inclusion of all relevant costs, and consideration of utility‐based quality of life measures for QALY estimation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.