A systematic review of psycho-oncology research in Chinese populations: emerging trends

Abstract

The burden of cancer in China is increasing with future psycho-oncological interventions crucial. A systematic review of psycho-oncology research in China was undertaken to assess quantity, design and target trends over time. Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, ProQuest, Web of Science (1999-November Week 4, 2012) were searched. Inclusion criteria were: included cancer patients and/or partners or caregivers from resident Chinese populations (either at least 80% of participants are from China, Hong Kong or Taiwan); assessed psychological adjustment relating to cancer and published in English after 1 January 1999 and prior to 30 November 2012. In all, 208 articles met inclusion criteria. Of these: 52 were cross-sectional descriptive quantitative; 30 were cross-sectional descriptive qualitative; 27 were prospective descriptive quantitative; 2 were prospective descriptive qualitative; 18 assessed interventions; 79 presented instrument validation. Publications increased eightfold from 1999 to 2012. Most studies included patients (n = 195) with 11 articles focusing on caregivers and two on patient-caregiver dyads. The most common cancer studied was breast cancer. The psycho-oncology research effort in China is dramatically increasing. A focus on culturally relevant approaches to underpin the evaluation of empirically derived interventions is warranted; as is direction of efforts to other cancers such as lung and prostate.

Quality of life of family caregivers of cancer patients in Singapore and globally

“…Unfortunately, most of the published studies on the associations between caregivers' QOL and demography have been conducted in Western societies and settings. (7) To the best of our knowledge, there have been no studies conducted in Singapore to identify the type of stress experienced by family caregivers of cancer patients and the needs of these caregivers. This lack of information represents a gap in service provision for this group of caregivers.…”

Psycho-oncology assessment in Chinese populations: a systematic review of quality of life and psychosocial measures

“…; Chambers et al . ); and other reviews (Zeng et al . ) on psycho‐oncology in Asia and included the following: (cancer.mp OR neoplasm$.mp OR metastasis$.mp OR malignan$.mp OR exp neoplasms/) (psychological.mp OR psychosocial.mp OR well‐being.mp OR coping.mp OR anxiety.mp OR depression.mp OR distress.mp OR survivor$.mp OR pain OR fatigue.mp OR exp quality of life/ OR exp emotional adjustment/ OR exp social adjustment) (scale$.mp OR validation.mp OR psychometric$.mp OR exp measurement/ OR exp psychometrics/ OR exp test validity/ OR exp test construction/) (China.mp OR Chinese.mp OR Taiwan$.mp OR Hong Kong.mp OR Macau.mp) 1 AND 2 AND 3 AND 4 …”

“…; Grassi & Watson ), and Chinese psycho‐oncology descriptive (Chambers et al . ) and intervention research (Tao et al . ).…”

Occupational stress, survivorship issues and key themes in this issue: occupational stress, survivorship interventions, cancer in Chinese populations

“…An increase in research investigating psychosocial concerns is also evident (Chambers et al . ). Conway et al .…”