Newby, T.A., Graff, J.N., Ganzini, L.K., & McDonagh, M.S. (2015). Interventions that may reduce depressive symptoms among prostate cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psycho-Oncology. Advance online publication.
PHASE OF CARE: Multiple phases of care
The meta-analysis across all studies with all types of interventions showed a positive effect of intervention (p = 0.002). In four studies using exercise, there was no significant effect. Across three studies of psychosocial interventions, including psychotherapy and peer support, the was an overall significant effect (point estimate –0.961, p = 0.003). In two studies of educational interventions, there was no statistically significant effect.
The findings of this study suggest that psychosocial interventions can be effective in reducing depressive symptoms among patients with prostate cancer.
The majority of studies included were of low quality. The authors stated that in multiple-arm studies, outcomes were only used in certain selected study arms. For each subanalysis, there were few individual studies. There were some discrepancies in the report regarding the number of studies included. Samples were mixed in terms of inclusion of patients who did or did not have clinically relevant depressive symptoms. Most studies were brief, and the long-term benefits of the interventions were not clear.
Although this analysis provides relatively limited evidence regarding the effectiveness of individual types of interventions, its findings do suggest that some intervention is more effective than doing nothing. Nurses need to identify patients with symptoms of depression and those at risk for depression and take action.