Adherence to chemotherapy and radiotherapy in patients with cancer: A review of the literature

Abstract

Objective: To review in databases the relevant literature of adherence to chemotherapy and radiotherapy for cancer; which bring high biological, psychological, social and cultural costs and have been related to lower adherence rates. Method: A search in different databases was performed to identify relevant articles related to the key words. Results: A significant percentage of patients do not adhere to cancer treatments and the consequences of not doing it can unleash in a major risk of death or disease progression, then it is essential to approach this topic and take into account different variables of biological, psychological and social impact on the behavior of adherence or not adherence to the treatments; including the side effects, motivation, decision-making ability, emotional condition, autonomy and life philosophy of each patient. This research contributes to the health staff have more elements to approach this problem and so his interventions are more effective being able to increase the patient´s adherence. Conclusions: Adherence is a multifactorial and multi-determined construct, which has been extensively studied in non cancer treatments (e.g. AIDS) and there is few investigation that supports the efficacy of the psychological interventions to approach not adherence and to promote the adherence to cancer treatments.