Patient and caregiver engagement interventions show significant potential for improving lung cancer outcomes, according to a systematic review in Lung Cancer.

Patient and caregiver engagement interventions show significant potential for improving outcomes for patients with lung cancer, according to a systematic review published in Lung Cancer.

“This review has identified a wealth of lung cancer interventions that have shown signs of effectiveness when it comes to enhancing patient knowledge, patient activation, psychosocial well-being, and reducing healthcare use and symptom severity,” wrote Samuel Cooke, PhD, and colleagues.

The study synthesized patient engagement interventions from a total 34 studies. The interventions spanned a handful of categories including information/education, care navigation, decisions, pathways, symptom assessment, psychosocial, advanced care planning, and physical activity interventions.

According to the findings, the engagement interventions had a positive effect across various outcomes, showing benefits in patient and caregiver knowledge, decision-making, and patient activation. Interventions also decreased healthcare use, reduced symptom severity, and improved psychosocial outcomes including depression, anxiety, stress, and self-efficacy.

The synthesis also looked at barriers to and facilitators of intervention implementation. Timing could prove a barrier, with patients who were approached too soon unlikely to participate because they were still trying to process their diagnosis, while others were busy with tests and treatment preparation.

“Receiving a cancer diagnosis is emotionally overwhelming, and patient[s] and carers often experience information overload at this time,” the researchers wrote. “Establishing an appropriate and effective approach to delivering interventions, that is flexible to the variation in patient experience and capacity at the different stages of cancer, is essential.”

Clinicians also identified time, space, and workflow constraints as challenges. Additionally, older patients were more likely to have poor digital literacy or access.

“Studies included in this review acknowledged lung cancer patients’ preference for written information,” researchers wrote, “and provided the option for written study information to help overcome digital literacy barriers.”

Facilitators to implementation included training and support for those delivering interventions, caregiver involvement, and broad recruitment strategies.

Investigators noted a moderate to high risk for bias for the studies included in the synthesis. Nevertheless, as the first to focus specifically on interventions for patients with lung cancer, they highlighted the report’s value.

“Researchers can use the findings from this review as a reference point,” they wrote, “to guide and support the development, adaptation, and implementation of future patient engagement interventions for people with lung cancer.”