Ethical Considerations of Disclosing the Diagnosis to Cancer Patients in Iran: A Systematic Review

Informing cancer patients about their illness will help them better understand the disease and follow treatment more closely. Given the necessity of cancer patients' awareness of their diagnosis during treatment, the current challenging issue is to the manner by which the diagnosis must be disclosed to cancer patients. Therefore, the aim of this study was to review the studies conducted on the ethical considerations of disclosure among cancer patients in Iran.

Systematic search in internal databases of Magiran, Elmnet, Irandoc, and Noormags have been done with keywords such as telling the diagnosis, disclose of diagnosis, ethical sensitivity, ethical considerations, how to break bad news, cancer patients and patients with cancer in Persian. There was no time limit on the selection of articles. Out of 24 articles reviewed, 14 articles were omitted based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. And the final analysis was performed on 10 articles.

The results of this study show that most physicians tend to disclose the diagnosis. They want to express recognized diagnosis immediately and explicitly in a session in detail being conducted by them. Doctors' willingness to disclose depends on variables such as the age of the patients and their specialization. Most patients who are aware of their diagnosis are more likely to participate in selection of treatment. Patients prefer a gradual and appropriate disclosure. Patients need the support of family, health care workers, support organizations, and the right information when disclosing a diagnosis. Ethical Considerations: Integrity and honesty in reporting, documenting and citing of resources were observed.

How to disclose the diagnose and consider the psychological and spiritual components of patients and their families on the one hand and the psychological characteristics of physicians on the other hand are important challenges in this process in Iran that need further investigation.