Zimmermann, T., Heinrichs, N., & Baucom, D.H. (2007). “Does one size fit all?” Moderators in psychosocial interventions for breast cancer patients: A meta-analysis. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 34, 225–239.
To illuminate the moderators of the effect of psychosocial interventions and better understand the variability of these effects in patients with cancer; to test the hypothesis that cancer type, intervention type, and interventionist can moderate intervention effect
Initially, investigators retrieved 127 articles, of which 46 were eliminated because they did not report on RCTs. Four of the 127 articles were unavailable. Of the remaining 77 reports of RCTs, the data in 26 were incomplete. Communication with the authors of studies with incomplete data resulted in obtaining complete data for five studies.
Nurses are particularly suited to providing psychoeducational and educational interventions for patients, and these types of nurse-led interventions can have a positive effect on patient outcomes. Psychologist-delivered CBT interventions seem to be more effective than nurse-delivered CBT interventions. This finding suggests that, if nurses are to provide CBT, the nurses must develop significant expertise.This finding may also suggest the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to providing psychosocial interventions. This meta-analysis demonstrated that moderators have a significant effect on intervention effectiveness; therefore, future studies should provide information about potential moderators.