Santos Salas, A., Fuentes Contreras, J., Armijo-Olivo, S., Saltaji, H., Watanabe, S., Chambers, T., . . . Cummings, G.G. (2016). Non-pharmacological cancer pain interventions in populations with social disparities: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Supportive Care in Cancer, 24, 985–1000.
DOI Link
Purpose
STUDY PURPOSE: To examine the evidence for nonpharmacological cancer pain interventions in populations with disparities of income, ethnicity, or gender
TYPE OF STUDY: Meta-analysis and systematic review
Search Strategy
DATABASES USED: MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Collaboration, Health Technology Assessment, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, Proquest Dissertations and Theses
KEYWORDS: Search terms used for MEDLINE are provided in an appendix
INCLUSION CRITERIA: Patients 18 years and older, nonpharmacologic cancer pain interventions, randomized controlled trials, controlled trials and pre-/post designs
EXCLUSION CRITERIA: Not specified
Literature Evaluated
TOTAL REFERENCES RETRIEVED: 4,623
EVALUATION METHOD AND COMMENTS ON LITERATURE USED: Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool
Sample Characteristics
FINAL NUMBER STUDIES INCLUDED = 3
TOTAL PATIENTS INCLUDED IN REVIEW = 232
SAMPLE RANGE ACROSS STUDIES: 67–97 patients
KEY SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS: One study was of varied cancer types, looking at ethnicity and income; one examined Hispanic women with breast cancer; and one included several minority group patients with various tumor types.
Phase of Care and Clinical Applications
APPLICATIONS: Palliative care
Results
Interventions included pain education, culturally sensitive online support and education, and coaching versus controls. Meta-analysis of pooled results from these three studies did not show a significant overall effect on pain intensity. Interventions across studies varied in terms of frequency, duration, and intensity.
Conclusions
This analysis did not demonstrate a significant impact of psychosocial/psychoeducational types of interventions on pain intensity among disadvantaged patient groups. There is insufficient evidence to draw any firm conclusions.
Limitations
- Few studies were included.
- Generally high risk of bias in included studies
Nursing Implications
No firm conclusions can be drawn regarding the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for pain management among disadvantaged patient groups. There is a lack of research in this area. Findings here point to the need to develop and test these types of interventions for potentially vulnerable patient populations.
Legacy ID
5848