Cancer-related care for rural and remote populations in Canada: A scoping review

Synthesizing unique barriers to cancer-related care among rural and remote populations would be useful to inform future research and health service priorities. To fill this gap, the overall goal of this review is to synthesize the cancer literature about those living in rural and remote locations in Canada.

Using JBI scoping review methods, we extracted the following: definition of rural or remote; phase of cancer care continuum (screening, diagnosis, treatment/care, post-treatment, outcomes); province( s) and/or territory(ies) of the sample; and cancer diagnosis(es).

Within the 45 studies, definitions of rural and remote varied widely. The treatment/care phase was most often reflected (n = 18) followed by screening (n = 12). All provinces were represented and data from the Yukon Territory was lacking. Breast and colorectal cancer diagnoses were most common (n = 20 and n = 18, respectively) and most studies (n = 31) used quantitative designs.

Review results illuminate the state of cancer-related research of rural and remote populations across Canada and highlight implications for further examination.