Survey situation of mental health of pregnant women with breast cancer: A systematic review study.

Abstract

A pregnant woman struggles with physical and mental problems caused by hormonal changes during her pregnancy. Now, if cancer is added to these difficult conditions, the pregnant woman will suffer a lot of psychological burden. We decided to conduct a systematic review study titled "Mental health examination of pregnant women with breast cancer" so that by examining this issue and emphasizing it more, we can reduce this mental burden. A systematic review was conducted on the English and Persian documents published throughout a 10-year period (2013-2023) in PubMed or MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases. All documents were assessed for eligibility by titles or abstracts according to the search strategy, with the terms, such as mental health, pregnant woman, and pregnancy with breast cancer. The screening process was conducted by two independent authors. The selected articles were checked regarding inclusion and exclusion criteria. In total, 235 relevant studies were searched in 2013-2023, and after evaluating the full text of the article, 32 full-text articles were opted in accordance with the eligibility criteria, and finally, 26 full-text articles were reviewed systematically. According to the studies that were analyzed, the most common mental health disorders in pregnant women with breast cancer were depression, anxiety, and stress, which were created as a result of the fear of the possible consequences of cancer in the pregnant mother. To improve the level of mental health of women with cancer in Iran, the following solutions are suggested: 1. strengthening mental health services in primary health care, 2. appointing the trustee of the unit to improve the level of interdepartmental leadership and intradepartmental governance, 3. determining sustainable and targeted financial resources to provide mental health services needed by pregnant women with cancer, 4. moving the financial resources allocated to insurance mechanisms for greater financial protection, 5. expanding the umbrella of social support, and 6. a behavioral educational program that can be used to improve mental health, especially the symptoms of depression and anxiety in pregnant women with cancer.