Cancer survivors' experiences of group cognitive behavioural therapy

Section A: Prevalence of anxiety amongst cancer survivors (CS) is high and growing evidence suggests benefits of individual, or group, CBT in reducing anxiety. However, previous reviews were either cancer specific or specified cancer severity. Hence, there is a lack of a review looking at group CBT effectiveness on anxiety across different cancers and severity that this review aims to explore. A systematic review was conducted and twelve RCT studies were reviewed. Results indicated that group CBT interventions were effective in improving anxiety in CS across cancer types. Shortterm interventions also produced positive results. Implications for future research were discussed.

Section B: Cancer diagnosis impacts significantly on patients’ anxiety and quality of life. Although studies investigating the effectiveness of group CBT in CS have increased, there remains a paucity of data exploring CS experiences. This study aims to investigate CS’ experiences of receiving group CBT for anxiety. Qualitative grounded theory methodology was applied. Thirteen CS attended a telephone or face-to-face interview. A framework was developed and findings indicated that group CBT seemed acceptable amongst CS, a range of positive and negative experiences were reported and anxiety improved. Some of the mechanisms of change were understanding anxiety, connection with others, accepting cancer, greater hope about the future and access to CBT tools.