Psychosocial Interventions for Improving the Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors: A Literature Review

Breast cancer is the most women's cancer worldwide especially in developing countries including Indonesia. This cancer is affected women's physically and psychologically. Those effects may influence women's quality of life (QoL). An appropriate psychosocial intervention would be significant to survivors' QoL. This study is aimed to identify interventions that effective in dealing with psychosocial problems, and in improving QoL. Methods, this review addresses the question: what interventions are effective in managing psychological problems in breast cancer survivors. We conducted a literature review, we searched Pubmed, Ebsco, Cengage, and Cochrane for articles focusing on any types of psychosocial interventions. Through a database search, 543 articles were identified and after manual review, 7 studies were identified and appraised. Results, there were six randomized control trial and one quasi-experiment method involved in the analysis step. The interventions were 1) mindfulness therapy (4 articles)-2) behavioral therapy (2 articles), 3) acceptance and commitment therapy (1 article). The seven studies reported significant effects in reducing psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, and mood problems. The intervention also improved patients' QoL. Conclusion and recommendation psychosocial interventions are effective to help breast cancer survivors as an individual, and none of those studies had involved family in interventions. There is a need to develop a study that involves the family in the intervention, as the family is the main support for Indonesian.