Effectiveness of educational and psychological survivorship interventions to improve health-related quality of life outcomes for men with prostate cancer on androgen deprivation therapy: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVES: Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a common treatment for prostate cancer, has debilitating impacts on physical and psychological quality of life. While some interventions focus on managing the physical side effects of ADT, there is a paucity of interventions that also address psychosocial and educational needs. The objective of this systematic review was to identify psychological and educational survivorship interventions targeting health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes in men on ADT. DESIGN: A systematic review of randomised controlled trials. DATA SOURCES: Web of Science, Cochrane, EBSCO Host, PubMed, SCOPUS from inception (1984) to 28 January 2023. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Psychological and/or educational survivorship interventions targeting HRQoL outcomes for men on ADT; minimum 80% of participants on ADT; used a validated HRQoL outcome measure; published in English in a peer-reviewed journal. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Data extraction using pre-specified study criteria was conducted. Heterogeneity of eligible studies precluded a meta-analysis. RESULTS: A total of 3381 publications were identified with eight meeting the criteria. Interventions were either psychological with a cognitive behavioural approach (n=4), or educational with (n=2) or without (n=2) psychoeducational components.Two studies reported a statistically significant improvement using a specific HRQoL measure. Most studies were not adequately powered and/or included small sample sizes limiting the conclusions that can be drawn on effectiveness. The most effective interventions were (i) individually based, (ii) educational with a psychoeducational component, (iii) supplemented with information packages and/or homework and (iv) included personalised needs assessments. CONCLUSION: There is a paucity of literature reporting psychological and educational survivorship interventions targeting HRQoL outcomes for men on ADT. What is urgently needed are person-c