Nursing support for symptoms in patients with cancer and caregiver burdens: a scoping review protocol

Terminally ill patients with cancer experience a variety of symptoms, and their families experience certain caregiver burdens. Most studies on this topic have focused on the symptoms experienced by patients with cancer. There is little established evidence to show how nursing support affects these symptoms and burdens. Nurses provide support by extrapolating their clinical experience, practical knowledge and insights gained from the treatment phase of patients with cancer, regardless of the existence or degree of evidence. This study presents a scoping review protocol with the aim of categorising the feasibility of nursing support from the initial to the terminal phases in the trajectory of cancer care.

This review will be guided by Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage scoping review framework and Levac's extension. Our research project team will focus on the pain, dyspnoea, nausea and vomiting, constipation, delirium, fatigue and skin disorders experienced by patients with cancer as well as the burdens experienced by caregivers of such patients. All available published articles from database inception to 31 January 2022 will be systematically searched using the following electrical databases: PubMed, CINAHL, CENTRAL in the Cochrane Library and Ichushi-Web of the Japan Medical Abstract Society databases. In addition, we will assess relevant studies from the reference list and manually search each key journal. The formula creation phase of the literature search involves working with a librarian to identify relevant keywords. At least two reviewers will independently screen and review articles and extract data using a data chart form. Results will be mapped according to study design and analysed for adaptation in the field of terminal cancer.

This review does not require ethical approval as it is a secondary analysis of pre-existing, published data. The findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.