Breast cancer survivors–supportive care needs: systematic review

OBJECTIVES: To achieve optimal survival care outcomes, all healthcare services must be tailored to patients’ specific needs, preferences and concerns throughout the survival period. This study aimed to identify supportive care needs from the point of view of breast cancer survivors. METHODS: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for reporting systematic reviews, a comprehensive search of PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus was performed. The inclusion criteria were studies published from inception to the end of January 2022, covering all stages of breast cancer. The exclusion criteria were mixed-type studies relating to cancer, such as case reports, commentaries, editorials and systematic reviews, as well as studies that assessed patients’ needs during cancer treatment. Two quality assessment tools were used for the qualitative and quantitative studies. RESULTS: Of the 13 095 records retrieved, 40 studies, including 20 qualitative and 20 quantitative studies, were retained for this review. Survivors’ supportive care needs were classified into 10 dimensions and 40 subdimensions. The most frequently mentioned supportive care needs of survivors were psychological/emotional needs (N=32), health system/informational needs (N=30), physical and daily activities (N=19), and interpersonal/intimacy needs (N=19). CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review highlights several essential needs for breast cancer survivors. Supportive programmes should be designed in order to take into consideration all aspects of these needs, particularly psychological, emotional and informational needs.