Effectiveness of Dignity Therapy in Patients with Advanced Cancer Receiving Palliative Care: A Systematic Review
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Copyright (c) 2025 Wagner Fiallos Coque, Ericka Parra Gavilanez, Mariana Vallejo Martinez
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33821/826Keywords:
psychotherapy, neoplasms, dignity therapy, palliative care, terminal care, psychotherapyAbstract
Introduction: Dignity Therapy (DT) is a brief psychotherapeutic intervention designed to relieve existential suffering and enhance identity and self-worth in end-of-life patients. Its application in palliative oncology has yielded variable results, warranting an updated synthesis of evidence. Material and Methods: A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA 2020 and registered in PROSPERO (CRD420251109555). Randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies evaluating DT in adults with advanced or terminal cancer were included. The primary outcome was perceived dignity; secondary outcomes included anxiety, depression, spiritual well-being, hope, and quality of life. Methodological quality was assessed using ROB2 and ROBINS-I tools. Results: Ten studies with 904 patients from America, Europe, and Asia were analyzed. No statistically significant differences were found in perceived dignity; however, most studies reported improvements in emotional well-being, hope, and spirituality, with good feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. Conclusions: Despite heterogeneity across studies, DT provides meaningful emotional and existential benefits for patients with advanced cancer. It represents an ethical and humanizing intervention that should be integrated into palliative care programs, while further multicenter research is encouraged to strengthen current evidence.
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