SynthesisBMC complementary medicine and therapies2025
Effects of art therapy on psychological outcomes among children and adolescents with cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMC complementary medicine and therapies, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- An Art Therapy Workbook for Pediatric Patients with Cancer Receiving Palliative Care: Program Design and Effects.Journal of hospice and palliative care · 2026Article
- Group painting therapy for children and adolescents with bone tumors: a quasi-experimental trial evaluating anxiety, depression, post-traumatic growth, and health-related quality of life.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe increasingly rising incidence of cancer among children and adolescents has led to notable psychological challenges for this population. Art therapy, classified within the realm of complementary and alternative medicine interventions and psychotherapy, demonstrates promising potential psychological benefits for children and adolescents. Therefore, a systematic review was conducted to determine the effects of art therapy on improving psychological outcomes among patients with pediatric cancer and identify the details of art therapy.
methodA systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted. Ten English language databases, two Chinese databases, and grey literature were searched. Two researchers independently conducted study selection, quality assessment and data extraction. The Generic inverse variance method with random-effects models was applied to do meta-analysis.
resultsThree randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and five quasi-experimental studies with acceptable quality involving 452 participants from five countries were included. Our meta-analysis revealed statistically significant improvement in anxiety, depression among pediatric cancer patients. Narrative findings suggested art therapy could improve the overall psychological symptoms, stress, and anger.
conclusionArt therapy can positively improve psychological outcomes, particularly anxiety and depression. However, the evidence is weakened by limited studies and methodological heterogeneity. Additional high-quality RCTs with large samples are warranted to confirm and supplement the existing evidence.
trial registrationThis review was registered in PROSPERO with ID CRD42023477700 on 11 November 2023.
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