title: Psychosocial Interventions for Adolescents and Young Adults Diagnosed with Cancer During Adolescence: A Critical Review.
abstract: Adolescents and young adults (AYA) face individual and social challenges different to other age groups that shape their experience of cancer and the associated psychological distress. This critical review examined the availability of AYA-specific psychosocial interventions to assess the impact they have and identify elements that make them successful. Five literature databases were searched for psychosocial intervention studies involving AYAs with cancer, on and off treatment, aged 10-30 years, published between 1980 and 2016. Eleven out of 42 identified studies were included in the final review after quality assessment. All but two interventions showed positive results on at least one measure of psychosocial well-being. A distinctive difference between the supportive needs of those on and off treatment was noted, and differences in intervention design and delivery formats were identified between the two subgroups. Analysis of specific intervention characteristics that achieved the successful outcomes was more challenging due to the large variation in outcome measures used. This review demonstrates that psychosocial intervention research for AYA with cancer is increasing and the results show a potential benefit of intervention participation. Further work is needed to validate whether the benefits achieved by intervention participation remain over time.
authors.affiliation: 1 Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust , Bradford, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.affiliation: 2 Cancer Division, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust , London, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.affiliation: 3 School of Health Sciences, University of Surrey , Guildford, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Susie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aldiss
authors.affiliation: 3 School of Health Sciences, University of Surrey , Guildford, United Kingdom .|4 Centre for Outcomes and Experiences Research in Children's Health, Illness and Disability (ORCHID), Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust , London, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Faith
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gibson
authors.affiliation: 2 Cancer Division, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust , London, United Kingdom .|5 School of Health and Social Care, London South Bank University , London, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Rachel M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Taylor
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: intervention; literature review; psychological distress; psychosocial; survivors; well-being