Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan;31(1):107-115.
doi: 10.1002/pon.5787. Epub 2021 Aug 23.

Piloting CanCope: An internet-delivered transdiagnostic intervention to improve mental health in cancer survivors

Isabelle S Smith  1 , Cornelia Wellecke  1 , Karen L Weihs  2 , Bei Bei  1 , Joshua F Wiley  1
Affiliations

Piloting CanCope: An internet-delivered transdiagnostic intervention to improve mental health in cancer survivors

Isabelle S Smith et al. Psychooncology. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: CanCope is an internet-delivered, cognitive-behavioural intervention adapted from the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders to improve emotion regulation and support the mental health of cancer survivors. Four separate pilot studies evaluated each of CanCope's modules for (1) feasibility and participant satisfaction, and changes in (2) module-specific outcomes, and (3) global measures of emotion dysregulation and anxiety and depressive symptoms, from pre-to-post module delivery.

Methods: Eligible cancer survivors self-selected into one two-week online module designed to improve a specific aspect of emotion regulation ([1] understanding emotions, [2] mindfulness of emotions, [3] cognitive reappraisals, [4] challenging emotion-driven behaviours).

Results: Across modules, post-intervention surveys were completed by 17-19 participants, (58.1%-90.5% completion rate for participants who received the intervention). Each module was feasible and participants reported high satisfaction. Moderate-to-large pre-to-post effect sizes in mean differences were observed in module-specific target outcomes (p's < 0.05). Emotion dysregulation significantly decreased across modules 1 to 3 (p's < 0.05) with a non-significant decrease for module 4 (p = 0.13). Anxiety symptoms significantly decreased across all modules (p's < 0.05). Depressive symptoms significantly decreased across modules 1 and 3 (p's < 0.05), with non-significant decreases across modules 2 (p = 0.08) and 4 (p = 0.06).

Conclusions: Each CanCope module demonstrated promise in targeting emotion regulation skills and supporting the mental health of cancer survivors. Randomised controlled trials are required to test the efficacy of CanCope as an intervention in its entirety.

Keywords: anxiety; cancer; depression; emotion regulation; internet-delivered intervention; psycho-oncology; transdiagnostic; unified protocol.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Carreira H, Williams R, Müller M, Harewood R, Stanway S, Bhaskaran K. Associations between breast cancer survivorship and adverse mental health outcomes: a systematic review. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2018;110(12):1311-1327. https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djy177
    1. Lu D, Andersson TML, Fall K, et al. Clinical diagnosis of mental disorders immediately before and after cancer diagnosis: a nationwide matched cohort study in Sweden. JAMA Oncol 2016;2(9):1188. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2016.0483
    1. van Stam M-A, van der Poel HG, Bosch JLHR, et al. Prevalence and correlates of mental health problems in prostate cancer survivors: a case-control study comparing survivors with general population peers. Urologic Oncol Seminars Orig Investigations. 2017;35(8):531e1-531e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urolonc.2017.03.028
    1. National Cancer Institute. Cancer Statistics. Published September 25. 2020. Accessed February 3, 2021. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics
    1. Sloan E, Hall K, Moulding R, Bryce S, Mildred H, Staiger PK. Emotion regulation as a transdiagnostic treatment construct across anxiety, depression, substance, eating and borderline personality disorders: a systematic review. Clin Psychol Rev. 2017;57:141-163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2017.09.002

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources