Post-discharge Unmet Supportive Care Needs of Breast Cancer Patients: a Systematic Review

Objective: This review was conducted to identify the post-discharge unmet supportive care needs of breast cancer patients, and to collect related factors that affected those unmet needs. Material and Methods: Three electronic databases; including, PubMed, Wiley Online Library, and Science Direct were used to identify studies published between 2011 and 2021. Articles were identified from these databases with predefined keywords; such as, 'post-discharge', 'unmet supportive care needs' and 'breast cancer'. Of the 455 articles found initially, 107 studies were reviewed by title and abstract before full-text screening, and 17 studies were finally included. The study appraisal process was conducted independently by the research team to reach a final agreement.Results: In total 84% participants indicated at least one post-discharge unmet supportive care need; specifically, psychological (4.0-78.8%), and health system and information (4.0-69.6%) were two domains that stood out on top. However, young age (p-value<0.001), a higher education level (p-value=0.002), married patients (p-value<0.001); and breast cancer participants living with a high level of anxiety (p-value<0.001), depression (p-value<0.001), and low quality of life (p-value<0.001-0.05) showed a significant correlation with post-discharge unmet supportive care needs. Conclusion: Most breast cancer patients expressed at least one post-discharge unmet supportive care need. This result review will support improving health care service quality and raising awareness of nursing when providing care for cancer patients within the community.