Table 1.

Summary of demographic, clinical, and intervention characteristics

Demographic or characteristic	M (SD)	Number of studies	Number of effect size estimates	Average ES [95% CI]	$\widehat{\mathit{\tau }}$	I2(%)	F (df1, df2)	P
Average participant age	57.2 (7.5)	24	63	0.01 [−0.02, 0.03]	0.37	78	0.59 (1, 7.9)	.465
Percent female	71.5 (25.8)	25	67	0.00 [−0.01, 0.01]	0.26	79	0.01 (1, 16.7)	.906
Follow-up time (weeks from baseline)	20.6 (7.5)	29	82	0.00 [−0.01, 0.01]	0.32	82	0.00 (1, 2.6)	.997
Cancer typea						70	0.01 (1, 20.4)	.925
Breast		8	18	0.42 [0.18, 0.65]	0.16
Other		18	61	0.40 [0.16, 0.65]	0.42
Not reported		3	3	0.10 [−0.26, 0.46]	0.00
Cancer stagea						71	2.66 (2, 11.7)	.111
Early		5	24	0.46 [0.13, 0.79]	0.14
Advanced		9	23	0.52 [0.14, 0.91]	0.48
Mixed		10	28	0.17 [−0.05, 0.39]	0.17
Not reported		5	7	0.27 [−0.13, 0.67]	0.19
Cancer phasea						70	1.50 (3, 8.9)	.281
Curative		5	18	0.05 [−0.35, 0.44]	0.22
Post-treatment		5	20	0.34 [0.11, 0.57]	0.00
Palliative		6	18	0.65 [−0.05, 1.35]	0.62
Mixed		8	19	0.35 [0.09, 0.61]	0.16
Not reported		5	7	0.34 [−0.08, 0.77]	0.25
Delivery format						57	11.02 (1, 3.4)	.038
In-person		27	78	0.40 [0.24, 0.56]	0.32
Other		2	4	0.09 [−0.60, 0.77]	0.00
Intervention modalityb						78	0.03 (2, 2.4)	.973
Individual		17	45	0.37 [0.12, 0.62]	0.42
Dyad		2	4	0.32 [−2.38, 3.03]	0.22
Group		11	33	0.33 [0.14, 0.53]	0.17
Control type						85	0.00 (1, 13.2)	.965
Active/ attention/ education/ component		9	19	0.38 [0.04, 0.71]	0.38
Wait-list / standard care		20	63	0.37 [0.19, 0.55]	0.30
Intervention typeb,c						75	2.57 (2, 14.0)	.112
Creative arts		2	2	0.50 [−1.59, 2.59]	0.00
Education/information		1	3	−0.0 [−0.21, 0.20]	0.12
Meaning/existential		13	32	0.56 [0.29, 0.84]	0.38
Meditation/yoga		8	23	0.19 [−0.09, 0.47]	0.25
Coping skills-based		8	22	0.28 [0.07, 0.48]	0.16
Intervention targets meaning/purposeb						74	8.63 (1, 17.8)	.009
No		8	24	0.18 [0.09, 0.27]	0.00
Yes		24	58	0.42 [0.24, 0.60]	0.34
Outcome measureb						73	2.60 (2, 15.6)	.106
Primary		13	33	0.52 [0.25, 0.80]	0.39
Secondary		7	21	0.19 [0.01, 0.38]	0.08
Unspecified		10	28	0.26 [−0.04, 0.55]	0.30
Outcome scale						78	1.28 (2, 9.5)	.323
FACIT-Sp meaning		7	9	0.19 [−0.06, 0.45]	0.13
FACIT-Sp meaning/peace		9	15	0.48 [0.14, 0.81]	0.36
McGill Quality of Life existential well-being		6	22	0.28 [−0.29, 0.85]	0.48

Notes:

^a Test for between-group differences excludes “Not reported” group.

^b Sum of number of studies is larger than 29 because some studies included effects from more than one category.

^c Test for between-group differences excludes “Creative arts” and “Education/information” because these groups each contain fewer than 3 studies.