A Systematic Review of the Impact of Cancer Survivorship Interventions With Asian American Cancer Survivors

As the number of Asian cancer survivors continues to increase, there is a growing need for interventions to address their physiological and psychosocial needs. The aim of our systematic review was to assess the types and the impact of psychosocial or behavioral interventions for cancer survivorship among Asian Americans and Asian immigrants globally. The review included 18 articles reporting data from eight interventions, of which five were randomized controlled trials and three were one-group design interventions. All interventions were conducted with Asian Americans and fell into three categories: (a) expressive writing interventions that facilitated individual cognitive and emotional processing, (b) educational and social support interventions, and (c) healthy lifestyle interventions. Expressive writing studies that involved writing tasks facilitating emotional and stress disclosure and cognitive reappraisal were most beneficial for Chinese American survivors, and both in-person and longer virtual educational and social support interventions yielded improvements for survivors. The healthy lifestyle intervention was more beneficial for the mental health than the physical health of survivors. The small number of interventions in the United States and the lack of interventions with Asian immigrants outside of the United States highlights the need for more survivorship interventions for Asian cancer survivors. Successful cultural adaptation of cancer survivorship interventions often required multiple studies and extensive time and resources. The early success of culturally adapted interventions shows the path forward in developing effective survivorship interventions for Asian Americans and for testing and disseminating interventions among various cancer types and Asian subgroups in future research.