TY - JOUR
AU - Sinclair, Fiona
AU - Gillanders, David
AU - Hewitt, Christopher
AU - Rooney, Natalie
AU - Bonathan, Christine
AU - McAllister, Lauren
AU - Correia, Marta
AU - Devlin, Lynsey
AU - Hendry, Kirsty
PY - 2025
DA - September
TI - Adapting an acceptance and commitment therapy–based psychological intervention for fear of cancer recurrence in a digital format: a real-world evaluation during the COVID-19 pandemic
JO - Supportive Care in Cancer
VL - 33
DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-025-09946-0
AB - Purpose: Service evaluation comparing the effectiveness and acceptability of an in-person and a digitally delivered acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)–based group programme for fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) for breast cancer survivors. Methods: The programme was designed and delivered as part of a real-world, supportive care intervention and adapted for digital delivery in response to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. FCR, quality of life (QoL), psychological flexibility, and psychological distress measures were routinely collected pre-participation, post-participation, and 12 weeks following completion. Results: Ninety-seven in-person and 61 digital participants completed the group programme. Uptake was 30% and retention 89% for in-person. Uptake was 23% and retention 64% for online referrals. Between group statistical analyses revealed non-significant differences between delivery modality on overall scores of FCR (p=0.76), QoL (p=0.06) and psychological distress (anxiety p=0.16; depression p=0.22). There was a significant difference in psychological flexibility scores (p=0.04); digital participant scores were higher (mean=83) than in-person participants (mean=76.3). Within-group statistical analyses found a significant effect of time for all outcome measures, with a significant decrease in FCR and psychological distress and a significant increase in QoL and psychological flexibility (p&lt;0.001 for all measures). There were no statistically significant interaction effects between delivery modality and timepoint. Conclusion: In-person and online delivery of a real-world FCR group programme offered to breast-cancer survivors was found to be beneficial and comparable. These results support the potential benefits of a flexible approach to delivery modality of supportive care interventions. Further investigation is required to determine if these results are replicable within diverse populations.
PB - Springer Nature
UR - https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/366756/
KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
KW - Digital health and technology
KW - Mental health and wellbeing
ER