The Effectiveness of Psychoeducational Interventions Focused on Sexuality in Cancer

Although sexual health is a common concern for oncology patients, no practical guidelines to sexual intervention exist, perhaps because of a lack of systematic reviews or meta-analyses.

The objectives of this study were to determine the effect size for psychoeducational intervention focused on sexuality and to compare effect sizes according to intervention outcomes and characteristic.

We explored quantitative evidence for the effects of sexual intervention for cancer patients or partners by using the electronic databases. Among them, we considered 15 eligible articles.

The meta-analysis provided 133 effect sizes from 15 primary studies. The analysis revealed significant improvements after intervention, with a random-effects standardized mean difference of 0.75. Psychoeducational interventions focused on sexuality after cancer diagnosis were effective for compliance (2.40), cognitive aspect (1.29), and psychological aspect (0.83). Individual-based interventions (0.85) were more effective in improving outcomes than group approach and group combined with individual intervention. With regard to intervention providers, registered nurse only (2.22) and team approach including the registered nurse (2.38) had the highest effect size. Face-to-face intervention combined with telephone or the Internet (1.04) demonstrated a higher effect size than face-to-face (0.62) and telephone (0.58) independently.

We conducted an analysis of data from various subgroups of preexisting studies, obtained an overall estimate of the effectiveness of the intervention, and compared its effectiveness across variables that affect intervention outcomes.

These results provide empirical data for evidence-based practice and inform the development of useful intervention programs through a comprehensive review and meta-analysis of the results.