Efficacy of Accelerated Resolution Therapy in Cancer Care: A Nonrandomised Mixed Methods Quality Assurance Study

ABSTRACT Background Demand for psychosocial oncology care is increasing without increases in resources. Solutions to reduce waitlists without risking quality of care are needed. Eye‐movement psychotherapies (e.g., Accelerated Resolution Therapy, ‘ART’) have shown promise in reducing severe psychological and physical symptom burden in fewer sessions than gold‐standard talking therapies (aka ‘TALK’). Limited evidence exists for ART within oncology. We compare patient‐reported mixed‐method outcomes pre–post single intervention sessions (ART or TALK). Methods We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients who received psychosocial oncology intervention in Calgary, Canada. Symptom burden was obtained from routine clinical measures (Edmonton Symptom Assessment System, ESAS) pre–post session and analysed using paired‐sample t ‐tests and hierarchical regressions. Qualitative data was gleaned from clinical documentation, analysed using thematic analysis. Quantitative and quantitative findings were triangulated following individual analysis. Results We reviewed 63 patient charts from February 2023 to March 2024 (ART n = 33; TALK n = 30) with heterogeneous tumour sites and stages. Group (ART or TALK) was a significant predictor of improvement in depression ( R 2 adj = 0.25, p < 0.001), anxiety ( R 2 adj = 0.33, p < 0.001), pain ( R 2 adj = 0.38, p < 0.001) and brain fog ( R 2 adj = 0.17, p = 0.002), with ART achieving greater relief in each. Qualitative themes included 1—Psychological symptom relief, 2—Physical symptom relief and 3—Practice considerations. Conclusions Our data supports that ART achieves either equivalent or superior symptom relief compared to TALK in a single session. ART may be a solution to reduce waitlists without sacrificing quality of care; however, more examination is needed to build on these preliminary results.