SynthesisSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2026
Effectiveness of interventions targeting social constraints among adults with cancer and their caregivers: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
purposeSocial constraints represent negative social responses to the disclosure of cancer-related experiences, which can influence how individuals communicate about and appraise their illness and relationships, thereby affecting their adaptation to cancer. Adults with cancer and their caregivers experience social constraints. Individual interventional studies yielded inconsistent results on mitigating social constraints. This systematic review aimed to synthesise the effectiveness of existing interventions targeting social constraints for adults with cancer and their caregivers.
methodRCTs from eight English language databases and one Chinese language database were searched from inception to 8 March 2024. The updated Cochrane risk-of-bias tool was used to assess the quality of the included RCTs. Findings were then summarised in narrative form.
resultsSeven studies with 1,166 adults with cancer and 106 caregivers were included. Intervention content included expressive writing, cognitive behavioural and emotion-focused therapy, psycho-educational written and audio/visual content and hula dance. Expressive writing was the predominant intervention. Four studies (57.14%) reported results on social constraints. Mixed results were observed on social constraints in adults with cancer, with one study (14.29%) reporting significant and positive results, two studies (28.57%) reporting nonsignificant positive results and one study reporting negative but non-significant results. Only one study (14.29%) examined the effectiveness of the intervention on caregivers with non-significant results.
conclusionsFindings indicated that interventions in the current review have limited effects on social constraints among adults with cancer. The most common intervention component was expressive writing, accompanied with cognitive and/or psychological support in one study. Insufficient evidence for caregivers was observed, as only one study focused on caregivers, yielding a non-significant result. Future research is encouraged for adults with cancer and their caregivers, employing rigorous study designs and long-term follow-up periods.
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