Purpose:
This study was conducted to find research trends on nurse-led interventions for fear of cancer recurrence.
Methods:
Articles published up to July of 2019 were examined through PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and Google scholar using English keywords with appropriate definitions related to fear of cancer recurrence. A total of 1766 articles were found and among them, 6 studies introducing intervention programs led by nurses were included in the final analysis.
Results:
The elements of nurse-led interventions were all largely heterogeneous, yet they led to significant reductions in fear of cancer recurrence. Moreover, it was confirmed that nurses played various roles in implementing the intervention, such as developing the intervention, providing the intervention or training the instructor providing the intervention, receiving training for the intervention, and recruiting patients.
Conclusion
Most fear of cancer recurrence interventions led by nurses led to a significant decrease in fear of recurrence, yet it is difficult to generalize the findings due to the limited number of studies available. Future research should focus on developing various nurse-led interventions for programs mediating fear of cancer recurrence.