Supporting decision-making regarding fertility preservation in patients with cancer: An integrative review

Recent reproductive technology for cancer patients has provided multiple options to preserve their fertility. Preserving fertility can increase quality of life of cancer patients. However, medical service providers and patients face difficulties in the decision-making process for the fertility preserving treatment because studies focusing on the concept of decision-making and various intervention materials are lack. This review aims to identify the attributes of interventions of studies on decision-making support interventions in cancer patients considering fertility preservation and provide best evidence for health professionals.

PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL and DBpia databases were searched. An integrated review of the literature was conducted using Whittemore and Knafl's methodology.

The search identified 1008 articles, of which 11 studies met eligible criteria. The attributes of the interventions were (1) provision of detailed and practical information of fertility preservation, (2) nondirective approaches to help patients to value their judgements, (3) emphasis on interactions through individualised consultations, (4) establishing connections with available resources and (5) reinforcement of decision-making support resources.

Health professionals must acquire current knowledge and ethical and legal standards of fertility preservation and pass this information on to patients before the formation of fertility preservation decision-making support networks within the hospital and health systems.