Current Oncology Nutrition Care Practice in Southeast Asia: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Although evidence-based nutrition care is recommended for patients with cancer, current nutrition care practices provided by nutritionists and dietitians in Southeast Asian countries are not clearly reported. The aim of this scoping review was to describe nutritionists’ and dietitians’ current oncology nutrition care practice within Southeast Asia by identifying access to dietetic services, tools or strategies used in providing care, and barriers and enablers to implementing nutrition care practices. Five databases (Ovid MEDLINE, Global Health, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Proquest) were searched through structured search strategies, in addition to strategic searching of grey literature. A total of 4261 sources of evidence were retrieved. After full-text screening, 18 studies from Southeast Asian countries met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. The provision and reporting of nutrition care practices provided by nutritionists and dietitians were limited. Access to dietetic services, including nutritional screening tools and reason to be referred, were varied within studies. Barriers and enablers to nutrition care provision were unique and related to each country’s specific resources and guidelines. In summary, there was varied reporting of nutrition care practices provided to patients with cancer in Southeast Asia and a lack of clarity on the actual standardized processes. Future research is warranted to further explore the barriers and enablers to providing nutrition care by local nutritionists and dietitians in Southeast Asia.