Boston P, Bruce A, Schreiber R (2011) Existential suffering in the palliative care setting: an integrated literature review. J Pain Symptom Manage 41:604–18

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Puchalski C, Ferrell B, Virani R, et al (2009) Improving the quality of spiritual care as a dimension of palliative care: the report of the consensus conference. J Palliat Med 12:885–904

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Baumeister RF (1991) Meanings of life. Guilford Press

Google Scholar 

World Health Organisation (2014) Global atlas of palliative care at the end of life. Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance, London (WHO definition of palliative care available at: http://www.who.int/cancer/palliative/definition/en/)

Google Scholar 

Albers G, Echteld MA, de Vet HC, et al (2010) Evaluation of quality-of-life measures for use in palliative care: a systematic review. Palliat Med 24:17–37

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Albers G, Echteld MA, de Vet HC, et al (2010) Content and spiritual items of quality-of-life instruments appropriate for use in palliative care: a review. J Pain Symptom Manage 40:290–300

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Sand L, Strang P (2006) Existential loneliness in a palliative home care setting. J Palliat Med 9:1376–87

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Butler LD, Koopman C, Neri E, et al (2009) Effects of supportive-expressive group therapy on pain in women with metastatic breast cancer. Health Psychol 28:579–87

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Mako C, Galek K, Poppito SR (2006) Spiritual pain among patients with advanced cancer in palliative care. J Palliat Med 9:1106–13

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Vehling S, Lehmann C, Oechsle K, et al (2011) Global meaning and meaning-related life attitudes: exploring their role in predicting depression, anxiety, and demoralization in cancer patients. Support Care Cancer 19:513–20

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Lichtenthal WG, Nilsson M, Zhang B, et al (2009) Do rates of mental disorders and existential distress among advanced stage cancer patients increase as death approaches? Psycho-Oncology 18:50–61

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Vehling S, Kissane DW, Lo C, et al (2017) The association of demoralization with mental disorders and suicidal ideation in patients with cancer. Cancer 123:3394–401

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Rodin G, Lo C, Mikulincer M, et al (2009) Pathways to distress: the multiple determinants of depression, hopelessness, and the desire for hastened death in metastatic cancer patients. Soc Sci Med 68:562–9

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Vehling S, Lehmann C, Oechsle K, et al (2012) Is advanced cancer associated with demoralization and lower global meaning? The role of tumor stage and physical problems in explaining existential distress in cancer patients. Psycho-Oncology 21:54–63

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Bernard M, Strasser F, Gamondi C, et al (2017) Relationship between spirituality, meaning in life, psychological distress, wish for hastened death, and their influence on quality of life in palliative care patients. J Pain Symptom Manage in press

Google Scholar 

Lambert MJ (2004) Bergin and Garfield’s handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change. Wiley, New York

Google Scholar 

LeMay K, Wilson KG (2008) Treatment of existential distress in life threatening illness: a review of manualized interventions. Clin Psychol Rev 28:472–93

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Grant MJ, Booth A (2009) A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Info Libr J 26:91–108

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Breitbart W (2002) Spirituality and meaning in supportive care: spirituality-and meaning-centered group psychotherapy interventions in advanced cancer. Support Care Cancer 10:272–80

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Chochinov HM, Hack T, Hassard T, et al (2005) Dignity therapy: a novel psychotherapeutic intervention for patients near the end of life. J Clin Oncol 23:5520–5

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Vos J, Craig M, Cooper M (2015) Existential therapies: a meta-analysis of their effects on psychological outcomes. J Consult Clin Psychol 83:115–28

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Chochinov HM, Hack T, McClement S, et al (2002) Dignity in the terminally ill: a developing empirical model. Soc Sci Med 54:433–43

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Chochinov HM, Kristjanson LJ, Breitbart W, et al (2011) Effect of dignity therapy on distress and end-of-life experience in terminally ill patients: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet Oncol 12:753–62

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Ando M, Morita T, Okamoto T, et al (2008) One-week short-term life review interview can improve spiritual well-being of terminally ill cancer patients. Psycho-Oncology 17:885–90

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Ando M, Tsuda A, Morita T (2007) Life review interviews on the spiritual well-being of terminally ill cancer patients. Support Care Cancer 15:225–31

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Butler RN (1974) Successful aging and the role of the life review. J Am Geriatr Soc 22:529–35

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Ando M, Morita T, Akechi T, et al (2010) Efficacy of short-term life-review interviews on the spiritual well-being of terminally ill cancer patients. J Pain Symptom Manage 39:993–1002

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Lee V, Cohen SR, Edgar L, et al (2006) Meaning-making and psychological adjustment to cancer: development of an intervention and pilot results. Oncol Nurs Forum 33:291–302

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Park CL (2010) Making sense of the meaning literature: an integrative review of meaning-making and its effects on adjustment to stressful life events. Psychol Bull 136:257–301

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Henry M, Cohen SR, Lee V, et al (2010) The meaning-making intervention (MMI) appears to increase meaning in life in advanced ovarian cancer: a randomized controlled pilot study. Psycho-Oncology 19:1340–7

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Frankl V (1976) Man’s search for meaning. Pocket Books, New York

Google Scholar 

Zuehlke TE, Watkins JT (1977) Psychotherapy with terminally ill patients. Psychother Theor Res Pract 14:403–10

Article  Google Scholar 

Breitbart W, Rosenfeld B, Gibson C, et al (2010) Meaning-centered group psychotherapy for patients with advanced cancer: a pilot randomized controlled trial. Psycho-Oncology 19:21–8

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Breitbart W, Poppito S, Rosenfeld B, et al (2012) Pilot randomized controlled trial of individual meaning-centered psychotherapy for patients with advanced cancer. J Clin Oncol 30:1304–9

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Breitbart W, Rosenfeld B, Pessin H, et al (2015) Meaning-centered group psychotherapy: an effective intervention for improving psychological well-being in patients with advanced cancer. J Clin Oncol 33:749–54

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Gagnon P, Fillion L, Robitaille MA, et al (2015) A cognitive-existential intervention to improve existential and global quality of life in cancer patients: a pilot study. Palliat Support Care 13:981–90

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Coward DD (1998) Facilitation of self-transcendence in a breast cancer support group. Oncol Nurs Forum 25:75–84

PubMed  Google Scholar 

Reed PG (1991) Toward a nursing theory of self-transcendence: deductive reformulation using developmental theories. ANS Adv Nurs Sci 13:64–77

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Coward DD (2003) Facilitation of self-transcendence in a breast cancer support group: II. Oncol Nurs Forum 30:291–300

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Kabat-Zinn J, Lipworth L, Burney R (1985) The clinical use of mindfulness meditation for the self-regulation of chronic pain. J Behav Med 8:163–90

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Kabat-Zinn J, Massion AO, Kristeller J, et al (1992) Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Am J Psychiatry 149:936–43

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Carlson LE, Speca M, Segal Z (2010) Mindfulness-based cancer recovery. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger

Google Scholar 

Monod S, Brennan M, Rochat E, et al (2011) Instruments measuring spirituality in clinical research: a systematic review. J Gen Intern Med 26:1345–57

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Lengacher CA, Johnson-Mallard V, Post-White J, et al (2009) Randomized controlled trial of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for survivors of breast cancer. Psycho-Oncology 18:1261–72

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Henderson VP, Clemow L, Massion AO, et al (2012) The effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on psychosocial outcomes and quality of life in early-stage breast cancer patients: a randomized trial. Breast Cancer Res Treat 131:99–109

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Carlson LE, Tamagawa R, Stephen J, et al (2016) Randomized-controlled trial of mindfulness-based cancer recovery versus supportive expressive group therapy among distressed breast cancer survivors (MINDSET): long-term follow-up results. Psycho-Oncology 25:750–9

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Chambless DL, Hollon SD (1998) Defining empirically supported therapies. J Consult Clin Psychol 66:7–18

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Howard LM, Ehrlich AM, Gamlen F, et al (2017) Gender-neutral mental health research is sex and gender biased. Lancet Psychiatry 4:9–11

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar