Effectiveness of ecological momentary interventions for patients with cancer: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Symptom burden and impaired quality of life (QoL) are major challenges for patients with cancer. Ecological Momentary Interventions (EMIs) offer real-time, context-sensitive, and personalized support, enabling more precise management of patient needs. To explore the effectiveness of EMIs in improving symptoms and QoL in patients with cancer, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted.

Following PRISMA 2020, a comprehensive search was conducted in nine databases from inception to December 8, 2025. The RoB 2 tool and GRADE were used to assess risk of bias and certainty of evidence, respectively. The R (version 4.4.1) and the “meta” package were used for statistical analysis.

A total of 17 studies involving 4,160 randomized participants were included. The results suggested that EMIs may improve depression in patients with cancer, but were not associated with significant improvements in fatigue, pain severity, pain interference, sleep disturbance, anxiety, or QoL. Given the limited certainty and robustness of the available evidence, further adequately powered, allocation-concealed randomized controlled trials with blinded outcome assessment, where feasible, are needed to strengthen the evidence base for EMIs in oncology care.

The study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82473452 and 82172842), the China Medical Board (Grant#22-482), the Ministry of Education University-Industry Collaborative Education Program (230720523707281), Chengdu Eastern New Area Municipal Administration Committee, Bureau of Culture and Tourism Program (00402053A29YN), and Chengdu Eastern New Area Technology Innovation Research and Development Program (2024-DBXQ-KJYF009). These authors contributed equally: Liyang Duan, Shu Zhang. West China School of Nursing, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China Liyang Duan, Shu Zhang, Linna Li & Xiaolin Hu Tianfu Jincheng Laboratory, City of Future Medicine, Chengdu, China The authors declare no competing interests.

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If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Duan, L., Zhang, S., Li, L. et al.