This article reviews the literature on the psychosocial problems of cancer patients, defined within the four areas of affect, physical symptoms, social support, and cognition, and describes a process of group treatment used in a one-year study of women who had metastatic carcinoma of the breast. These women met weekly in group sessions led by therapists in a manner designed to address, directly or indirectly, each category of psychosocial problems. The major outcome variables measured were affect and pain. As compared with women who did not receive intervention, group members experienced significant reductions in mood disturbance and in the reactive component of pain, although the frequency and duration of pain attacks were similar in both groups. The author also discusses the directions required for future research on group treatment as a means of providing psychosocial support for cancer patients.
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