The Role of Emotion-Related Abilities in the Quality of Life of Breast Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Breast cancer survivors have to deal with notable challenges even after successful treatment, such as body image issues, depression and anxiety, the stress related to changes in lifestyle, and the continual challenges inherent to health management. The literature suggests that emotional abilities, such as emotional intelligence, emotion management, mood repair, and coping play a fundamental role in such challenges. We performed a systematic review to systematize the evidence available on the role of emotional abilities in quality of life and health management in breast cancer survivors. The search was performed on three scientific databases (Pubmed, Scopus, and PsycINFO) and, after applying exclusion criteria, yielded 33 studies, mainly of a cross-sectional nature. The results clearly support the hypothesis that emotional abilities play multiple important roles in breast cancer survivors’ quality of life. Specifically, the review highlighted that coping/emotional management plays multiple roles in breast cancer survivors’ well-being and health management, affecting vitality and general adjustment to cancer positivity and promoting benefit findings related to the cancer experience; however, rare negative results exist in the literature. This review highlights the relevance of emotional abilities to promoting quality of life in breast cancer survivors. Future review efforts may explore other breast cancer survivors’ emotional abilities, aiming at assessing available instruments and proposing tailored psychological interventions.

Correlations between health indicators in women who survived breast cancer

“…Despite being a problematic recruitment sample, the number of participants can also be a limitation. Finally, although the findings of this study are part of a multidimensional approach, the absence of evaluations of psychological aspects [39,40] makes a more comprehensive understanding of the quality of life and health of BCS difficult.…”

Supportive care needs of women with gynaecological cancer: A systematic review and synthesis of qualitative studies

“…Healthcare providers should implement tailored psychological interventions concerning women's situations to help them cope with negative emotions. Engaging in proactive coping and emotional management could improve affective experiences and positively affect general adjustment to cancer and quality of life (Durosini et al, 2022). Novel self‐compassion‐based interventions have been shown to improve psychosocial outcomes such as stress, depression and anxiety (Ferrari et al, 2019).…”

Music Therapy: A Noninvasive Treatment to Reduce Anxiety and Pain of Colorectal Cancer Patients—A Systemic Literature Review

“…On a physical level, these patients have to suffer possible long-term side effects of oncological care (e.g., abdominal pain, fatigue, change in bowel habits, and pain) [ 2 ]. On a psychological level, the diagnosis and cancer treatment often increase negative emotions and impair physical and mental well-being [ 9 ].…”