Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41852192›Full record

SynthesisPsycho-oncology2026

Creative Arts Therapy for Anxiety, Depression, and Quality of Life in Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Ashlyn S L Chou, Tyler McKechnie, Vikram Arora, Brianna DePestel, Austine Wang, Sameer Parpia, Goran Calic, Phillip Staibano, Alexandra Derus, Akanksha Guleria and 2 more

Abstract readSystematic ReviewMeta-Analysis
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Psycho-oncology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Ashlyn S L ChouMichael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8854-5203
Tyler McKechnieDepartment of Surgery, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7668-4096
Vikram AroraTemerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Brianna DePestelDepartment of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Austine WangMichael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Sameer ParpiaDepartment of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9407-5622
Goran CalicMichael G. DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8226-1153
Phillip StaibanoDepartment of Surgery, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9095-9543
Alexandra DerusDepartment of Surgery, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Akanksha GuleriaMichael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Mohit BhandariDepartment of Surgery, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Alex ThabaneDepartment of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCancer is a significant psychological burden for patients. Previous evidence syntheses suggest creative arts therapies (CATs) may improve psychological outcomes, but are limited by heterogeneity in intervention types, study designs, and outcomes, and the lack of a certainty of evidence assessment.

aimsWe conducted a robust systematic review and meta-analysis of current randomized trial literature to explore the efficacy of CATs in improving anxiety, depression, and quality of life in cancer patients.

methodsWe searched PubMed, Embase, and PsycInfo databases for peer-reviewed randomized trials evaluating the effectiveness of CATs against a control in patients with current cancer diagnoses. We performed pairwise random-effects meta-analyses of standardized mean differences (SMD) for anxiety, depression, and quality of life, stratified by time-interval. We conducted subgroup analyses by session frequency, intervention type, treatment setting, and region. For studies not pooled quantitatively, results were qualitatively summarized.

results67 randomized trials with 6259 patients were included. The majority of interventions were music-based (80.6%), multi-session (59.7%), inpatient-based (73.1%), and conducted in North America (29.9%). Meta-analyses demonstrated positive effects of CATs on anxiety at < 7 days (SMD = -0.62 [95% CI -1.01, -0.24]), 4-6 weeks (-1.21 [-2.08, -0.34]), and 2-3 months (-1.19 [-2.14, -0.24]); depression at 1-3 weeks (-0.44 [-0.87, -0.00]) and 4-6 weeks (-1.14 [-1.76, -0.52]); and quality of life at 1-3 weeks (0.65 [0.05, 1.25]), 4-6 weeks (1.17 [0.02, 2.32]), 2-3 months (1.42 [0.55, 2.29]), and 4-6 months (0.42 [0.04, 0.80]. Qualitative results corroborate these findings. GRADE assessment revealed low-to-very-low certainty of evidence.

conclusionCreative arts therapies may improve anxiety, depression, and quality of life among cancer patients.

Indexed as

AnxietyArt TherapyDepressionNeoplasmsQuality of LifeHumansRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicTreatment Outcomeanxietyartart therapycancerdepressionmusic therapyoncologypsychosocial interventionquality of life

Identifiers

PMID41852192
PMCPMC13000673

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.