Biobehavioral Intervention for Cancer Stress: Conceptualization, Components, and Intervention Strategies

Trials testing the efficacy of psychological interventions for cancer patients had their beginnings in the 1970s. Since then, hundreds of trials have found interventions to be generally efficacious. In this article, we describe an intervention grounded in a conceptual model that includes psychological, behavioral, and biological components. It is from this biobehavioral view that an intervention was developed and tested among newly diagnosed cancer patients. It was found efficacious for biobehavioral outcomes, health, and disease endpoints. Here we provide investigators and clinicians with an elaborated description of the components and strategies to aid in replication and dissemination.