Communication Interventions for Families with Parental Cancer With Dependents: Findings from a Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Family Medicine
• Health Communication

Background:

• Increasing incidence of invasive cancer in individuals under 50, impacting childbearing populations.
• Existing family interventions for parents with cancer primarily use in-person methods for diagnosis or end-of-life communication.
• A gap exists in web-based interventions supporting communication across all family members regarding cancer's impact throughout the trajectory.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a comprehensive scoping review of family communication interventions for parents with cancer.
• To identify and analyze knowledge gaps in family communication interventions for this demographic.

Main Methods:

• Systematic search of seven databases, assisted by an informationist.
• Independent title/abstract and full-text reviews by two reviewers using Rayyan software.
• Data extraction performed by two reviewers.

Main Results:

• 35 articles and 24 distinct interventions were analyzed.
• Most interventions focused on parent-dependent communication at diagnosis or end-of-life, primarily in breast cancer.
• Few interventions (9%) were web-based, and none focused on the entire family or family-level outcomes.

Conclusions:

• In-person interventions exist for communicating cancer diagnoses to dependents.
• There is a critical need for web-based interventions that encompass the entire family and assess family-level outcomes.
• Equitable access to comprehensive, web-based family communication interventions is essential for improving outcomes.