Effect of Non- Pharmacological Interventions on Stress of Women with Breast Cancer Undergoing Chemotherapy: A Systematic Review

Background: Stress management of patients with breast cancer, especially patients receiving chemotherapy, is one the goals of service providers all over the world. There are various interventions for managing stresses. Aim: This review aims to investigate the effect of nonpharmacologicalinterventions on stress of women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy .Methods: In this systematic review, researcher searched Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Springer, Web of Science, Science Direct,Cochrane Library, Magiran, Scientific Information Database and Iranian Registery of Clinical Trials by keywords such as Distress,Stress, Chemotherapy, Breast Cancer, and Non- Pharmacological Intervention. Finally 74590 articles were found referred to 2000 2019. After excluding duplicates and irrelevant articles, 9 studies were evaluated by the Jadad scale .Results: The findings of non-pharmacological interventions effects on stress among women with breast cancer undergoingchemotherapy were classified into two main categories: psychological interventions including cognitive behavioral therapy and problem solving, and complementary medicine interventions including music therapy, Reiki therapy, Yoga and exercise. The findings indicated that most interventions reduced the stress in these patients. Based on the Jadad scale, only two studies were of good quality.Implications for practice: The findings of this study can be used as a suitable resource from effective non- pharmacological interventionsto reduce stress of women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy, in practice, health center and clinics .Conclusion: According to the effect of non-pharmacological interventions on decreasing stress among women with breast cancerundergoing chemotherapy, it is suggested to empower health service providers in order to encourage using these interventions toimprove women’s health