SynthesisSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2021
Systematic review of illness uncertainty management interventions for cancer patients and their family caregivers.
Synthesis in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 62 citations in OpenAlex.
- Correlates of illness uncertainty in cancer survivors and family caregivers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2023Pooled it
- Trial
- Article
- Joint Trajectories of Death Anxiety and Experiential Avoidance After Cancer Diagnosis: A Longitudinal Study.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2026Article
- Development and Validation of a Machine Learning-Based Prediction Model for Illness Uncertainty in Patients with Malignant Tumors.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Between Ideal and Actual Care: Patients' and Family Carers' Experiences of Cancer Care Relationships.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2026Article
- The moderating role of parental cognitive perceptions in the link between children's cancer predisposition genetic testing results and parent psychological adjustment.Journal of pediatric psychology · 2026Article
- Perceived stress, distress, burden, and caregiving preparedness in family caregivers of patients with hematologic malignancies during the first months of treatment.Journal of psychosocial oncology · 2026Article
- Transforming patient recruitment in clinical trials: Communication training to manage uncertainties about risks and benefits.Journal of clinical and translational science · 2026Article
- Cycling Through Uncertainty: The Psychological Experiences of Individuals With Lung Cancer Receiving Immunotherapy And/Or Targeted Therapy.Psycho-oncology · 2026Article
- Experiences of navigating anticipations and anxiety among patients having surgery for peripheral nerve tumours.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Managing, not lessening, uncertainty: a novel mind-body intervention for fear of cancer recurrence.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2025Article
- Review
- Managing uncertainty: A grounded theory study of restoring normality in young and middle-aged patients with lymphoma.International journal of nursing sciences · 2025Article
- The Burden of Treatment: Experiences of Patients Who Have Undergone Radiotherapy and Proton Beam Therapy.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Relationship between uncertainty in illness and fear of progression among lung cancer patients: The chain mediation model.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Preparedness, Uncertainty, and Distress Among Family Caregivers in the Care of Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.Oncology nursing forum · 2025Article
- Living Well With Uncertainty in Advanced, Metastatic or Incurable Cancers: A Pragmatic Feasibility Study of the Adapting to Life With Cancer Cognitive ExisteNtial Therapy (ACCENT).Psycho-oncology · 2025Article
- The meaning of trust along the treatment pathway of women with breast cancer: a mixed-methods study among cancer survivors.BMC women's health · 2025Article
- Determinants and Consequences of Parental Uncertainty in Childhood Cancer: A Systematic Review.Cancer management and research · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeIllness uncertainty pervades individuals' experiences of cancer across the illness trajectory and is associated with poor psychological adjustment. This review systematically examined the characteristics and outcomes of interventions promoting illness uncertainty management among cancer patients and/or their family caregivers.
methodsPubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Embase, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were systematically searched for relevant literature. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-experimental studies focusing on interventions for uncertainty management in cancer patients and/or their family caregivers.
resultsOur database searches yielded 26 studies. Twenty interventions were only offered to cancer patients, who were mostly elder, female, and White. All interventions included informational support. Other intervention components included emotional support, appraisal support, and instrumental support. Most interventions were delivered in person and via telephone (n = 8) or exclusively in person (n = 7). Overall, 18 studies identified positive intervention effects on illness uncertainty outcomes.
conclusionThis systematic review foregrounds the promising potential of several interventions-and especially multi-component interventions-to promote uncertainty management among cancer patients and their family caregivers. To further improve these interventions' effectiveness and expand their potential impact, future uncertainty management interventions should be tested among more diverse populations using rigorous methodologies.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.