Piloting CanCope: An internet-delivered transdiagnostic intervention to improve mental health in cancer survivors

Objective: CanCope is an internet-delivered, cognitive-behavioural intervention adapted from the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders to improve emotion regulation and support the mental health of cancer survivors. Four separate pilot studies evaluated each of CanCope’s modules for (1) feasibility and participant satisfaction, and changes in (2) module-specific outcomes, and (3) global measures of emotion dysregulation and anxiety and depressive symptoms, from pre-to-post module delivery. Methods: Eligible cancer survivors self-selected into one two-week online module designed to improve a specific aspect of emotion regulation ([1] understanding emotions, [2] mindfulness of emotions, [3] cognitive reappraisals, [4] challenging emotion-driven behaviours). Results: Across modules, post-intervention surveys were completed by 17-19 participants, (58.1%-90.5% completion rate for participants who received the intervention). Each module was feasible and participants reported high satisfaction. Moderate-to-large pre-to-post effect sizes in mean differences were observed in module-specific target outcomes (p’s < 0.05). Emotion dysregulation significantly decreased across modules 1 to 3 (p’s < 0.05) with a non-significant decrease for module 4 (p = 0.13). Anxiety symptoms significantly decreased across all modules (p’s < 0.05). Depressive symptoms significantly decreased across modules 1 and 3 (p’s < 0.05), with non-significant decreases across modules 2 (p = 0.08) and 4 (p = 0.06). Conclusions: Each CanCope module demonstrated promise in targeting emotion regulation skills and supporting the mental health of cancer survivors. Randomised controlled trials are required to test the efficacy of CanCope as an intervention in its entirety.