• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Efficacy of the Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully (CALM) individual psychotherapy for patients with advanced cancer: A single‐blind randomized controlled trial
  • Contributor: Mehnert, Anja; Koranyi, Susan; Philipp, Rebecca; Scheffold, Katharina; Kriston, Levente; Lehmann‐Laue, Antje; Engelmann, Dorit; Vehling, Sigrun; Eisenecker, Christina; Oechsle, Karin; Schulz‐Kindermann, Frank; Rodin, Gary; Härter, Martin
  • Published: Wiley, 2020
  • Published in: Psycho-Oncology, 29 (2020) 11, Seite 1895-1904
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.1002/pon.5521
  • ISSN: 1057-9249; 1099-1611
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: AbstractObjectiveWe aimed to determine whether the Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully (CALM) therapy is superior to a non‐manualized supportive psycho‐oncological counselling intervention (SPI).MethodsAdult patients with advanced cancer and ≥9 points on the PHQ‐9 and/or ≥5 points on the DT were randomized to CALM or SPI. We hypothesized that CALM patients would report significantly less depression (primary outcome) on the BDI‐II and the PHQ‐9 6 months after baseline compared to SPI patients.ResultsFrom 329 eligible patients, 206 participated (61.2% female; age: M = 57.9 [SD = 11.7]; 84.5% UICC IV stage). Of them, 99 were assigned to CALM and 107 to SPI. Intention‐to‐treat analyses revealed significantly less depressive symptoms at 6 months than at baseline (P < .001 for BDI‐II and PHQ‐9), but participants in the CALM and SPI group did not differ in depression severity (BDI‐II: P = .62, PHQ‐9: P = .998). Group differences on secondary outcomes were statistically not significant either.ConclusionsCALM therapy was associated with reduction in depressive symptoms over time but this improvement was not statistically significant different than that obtained within SPI group.