Interventions to Improve Body Image in Breast Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review of Clinical Trials

The numerous and complex treatments in women with breast cancer affect the body image of the patients. There are various ways to improve the body image of breast cancer survivors (BCS). This study aimed to review interventions to improve body image of women with breast cancer.

Several search engines including PubMed sites, CINAHL, ScinceDirect, Google Scholar, Magiran, Wiley online library, and SID were examined on the topic and the literature published between 2009 to 2020 were retrieved. Then, two independent reviewers using the consort checklist evaluated the quality of the studies.

In all 186 studies were found. After adapting the inclusion criteria, 16 trials were selected for review. Overall iInterventions performed to improver body image in breast cancer patients were: psychological interventions (56.25%), and sport related interventions.(18.75%). The remaining interventions were related to other disciplines (25%). The shortest intervention was 20 minutes on a decision-making aid and the longest was Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy for 24 weeks.

The findings suggest that evidence on interventions to improve body image body image is limited. Further studies are needed to provide sound evidence for improving body image for women who suffer from breast cancer.