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Quality of life and supportive care in cancer

Guest Editors

Eileen Shinn, PhD, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA
Christina Signorelli, PhD, UNSW Sydney, Australia 

BMC Cancer has published this Collection, The Quality of life and supportive care in cancer. We invited researchers to contribute their work on enhancing the understanding of supportive care interventions, patient-reported outcomes, and psychosocial support in the context of cancer. This Collection aims showcases research that explores the integration of palliative care, technology-enabled supportive care, and personalized approaches to improve the quality of life for individuals affected by cancer.

New Content ItemThis Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being, and SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Eileen Shinn, PhD, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA 

Dr Shinn is an Associate Professor in Behavioral Science at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her research interests include behavioral interventions for patients on active treatment, increasing engagement to supportive mobile technology, and modeling long-term adherence to chronic regimens in cancer. She has had extensive experience testing theoretically based psychosocial interventions to reduce depressive symptoms and promote adherence to preventive regimens in ovarian and head and neck cancer patients. These studies incorporated multiple self-report timepoints in cancer patients during active treatment.

Christina Signorelli, PhD, UNSW Sydney, Australia

Dr Signorelli is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at UNSW Sydney, Australia. Her research interests focus on understanding the physical and psychosocial impact of being diagnosed with a serious or chronic illness in childhood (such as cancer), and developing evidence-based resources and interventions to alleviate their potentially lifelong burden on the patient and their families. She is currently involved in numerous research projects which explore childhood, adolescents, and young adult cancer survivors’ health and wellbeing, specifically their outcomes in long-term survivorship. Dr Signorelli is particularly interested in survivors’ health behaviors and engagement, as well as patient empowerment and self-advocacy.
 

About the Collection

BMC Cancer has published the Quality of life and supportive care in Cancer Collection. Cancer not only poses physical challenges but also profoundly impacts the overall quality of life of individuals affected by the disease. Thus, supportive care has been defined as the prevention and management of the adverse effects of cancer and its treatment. It is crucial at every stage of the cancer journey, from diagnosis through treatment and beyond, and requires a coordinated, person-centered, and holistic approach that respects the individual's preferences and involves appropriate support from their family and friends.

The goal of supportive care is to maintain or improve the quality of life for people with cancer and to ensure they receive the maximum benefit from their treatment. This includes improving rehabilitation, preventing secondary cancers, supporting survivorship, and providing end-of-life care. Advancing our collective understanding of patient quality of life and supportive care is essential to enhance the overall cancer care continuum. Significant progress has been made in recognizing the importance of patient-reported outcomes, integrating survivorship care plans, and implementing multidisciplinary supportive care teams. 

Continued research in this field holds the potential for further advancements, including the refinement of personalized supportive care approaches, the utilization of technology for remote supportive care delivery, and the exploration of novel interventions to address the long-term effects of cancer treatment. Topics of interest included, but were not limited to, the following:

  • Patient-reported outcomes in cancer care
  • Management of cancer-related symptoms
  • Management of cancer treatment-related symptoms
  • Multidisciplinary interventions and integrative therapies
  • Integration of palliative care in cancer treatment
  • Psychosocial support and social care in cancer patients
  • Technology-enabled supportive care interventions (digital health intervention)
  • Rehabilitation and survivorship care
  • Financial toxicity
  • Sexual health and fertility preservation

Image credit: © Halfpoint / stock.adobe.com

  1. Managing advanced cancer can be psychologically distressing and burdensome for family caregivers and their care recipients. Innovations in the collection and modelling of passive data from personally-owned sma...

    Authors: J. Nicholas Odom, Kyungmi Lee, Erin R. Harrell, Kristen Allen Watts, Avery C. Bechthold, Sally Engler, Frank Puga, Natashia Bibriescas, Arif H. Kamal, Christine S. Ritchie, George Demiris, Alexi A. Wright, Marie A. Bakitas and Andres Azuero
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2025 25:614
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. Follow-up is essential especially for patients who are at a high risk of recurrence after radical resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of this study was to develop a predictive model aimed at i...

    Authors: Zichen Yu, Wenli Cao, Chengfei Du, Jie Liu, Liping Peng and Fangqiang Wei
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2025 25:597
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. Catheter-related thrombosis (CRT) is a serious complication in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, yet existing risk prediction models demonstrate limited accuracy. This study aimed to evaluate the clinic...

    Authors: Tao An, Han Han, Junying Xie, Yifan Wang, Yiqi Zhao, Hao Jia and Yanfeng Wang
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2025 25:552
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. Approximately 50% of ovarian cancer (OC) survivors report fear of cancer recurrence/progression (FCR/P) as the most challenging aspect of living with cancer. This pilot, randomised waitlist-controlled trial ai...

    Authors: Verena S Wu, Allan ‘Ben’ Smith, Hayley Russell, Adeola Bamgboje-Ayodele, Lisa Beatty, Alison Pearce, Haryana Dhillon, Joanne Shaw, Jan Antony, Joanna Fardell, Anupama Pangeni, Cyril Dixon, Orlando Rincones, Laura Langdon, Daniel Costa and Afaf Girgis
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2025 25:527
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors experience a significant financial burden (FB) after treatment, even in Germany with a statutory health insurance. The financial toxicity of cancer can cause higher morbidi...

    Authors: Jonas Rast, Veit Zebralla, Theresa Wald, Andreas Dietz, Gunnar Wichmann and Susanne Wiegand
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2025 25:514
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. Patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) receiving radiation therapy (RT) are at increased risk for symptoms of oral mucositis (OM), opioid use, and declines in physical function, outcomes that contribute to i...

    Authors: Andrew D. Ray, Chi-Chen Hong, Nicolas F. Schlecht, Han Yu, Kristopher Attwood, Kent L. Nastiuk, Bryan Spinelli, Ann Marie Flores, Hillary Jacobson, Julia Fulfaro, M. Jeffrey Mador, Austin J. Iovoli, Mark K. Farrugia and Anurag K. Singh
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2025 25:442
    Content type: Research Published on:

  8. Radiotherapy (RT) is the most common nonsurgical treatment for head and neck cancer (HNC) and may or may not be combined with chemotherapy (CT). Dysphagia, characterized by impaired swallowing function, is one...

    Authors: Marina de Castro Monteiro Franco Gomes, Pedro Maciel de Vasconcellos Ferreira, Ana Clara Speziali Menegazzi Almeida, Júlia Soares Cornélio, Thiago Jardim Arruda, Arnoldo Mafra, Marcelo Henrique Silva Nunes, Rafael Borges Salera, Raquel Fabiane Nogueira, Juliana Maria Braga Sclauser, Poliana Mendes de Andrade, Luciana Priscila Marçal, Ana Paula Drummond-Lage and Bruno Almeida Rezende
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2025 25:416
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. A comprehensive understanding of attitudes and changes in attitudes towards cancer pain and opioid analgesics among cancer patients can help healthcare professionals to provide more targeted and effective heal...

    Authors: Juan Wu, Gui-Xia Wei, Lin-Juan Li, Yu-Wen Zhou, Jia-Ling Wang, Yi-Xiao Bai, Cong-Jun Li and Meng Qiu
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2025 25:415
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. Patients with a rare cancer in rural, regional, and remote Australia experience heightened challenges in their illness journey, including significant psychosocial impacts. Although peer support has shown benef...

    Authors: L. Hemming, S. F. A. Duijts, C. Cockburn, C. Wilson, E. Y. N. Yuen and E. Spelten
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2025 25:352
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) significantly increases early detection rates of lung cancer and reduces lung cancer-related mortality by 20%. However, many significant screening barriers remain. This stud...

    Authors: Feifei Huang, Xiujing Lin, Yuezhen Hong, Yue Li, Yonglin Li, Wei-Ti Chen and Weisheng Chen
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2025 25:345
    Content type: Research Published on:

  12. Adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients with cancer experience complex physical and psychosocial development as well as diverse lifestyle changes. Therefore, each patient may have generation-specific needs. ...

    Authors: Yuki Shinohara, Ami Tabata, Mari Matsuoka, Masahiro Ogawa, Akiko Hanai, Tara Clinton-McHarg, Yuko Maeda, Masaya Kato, Yuta Sugihara, Momoko Nagai-Tanima, Tadao Tsuboyama and Tomoki Aoyama
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2025 25:343
    Content type: Research Published on:

  13. Gastric cancer (GC) families as a whole face the stressful time of cancer together, and the quality of life (QoL) of both the patient and the caregiver can be affected. Most past researchers have focused on th...

    Authors: Yingying Gu, Xiuxiu Ma, Hanjia Xin, Ziying Xiang, Yanmei Chen and Chaozhu He
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2025 25:288
    Content type: Research Published on:

  14. In Mali, cancer patients are often diagnosed at stage III or IV. Tumor wounds are more frequent and associated with malodorous exudates, responsible for an altered quality of life and stigmatization of patient...

    Authors: Charlotte Ngô, Fatoumata M Sidibe, Sophie Goossens, Dianeko Zenabou Tapa, Irène Kriegel, Abdramane A Kone, Moussa Bathily, Hamidou D Doumbia, Claire Rieux and Isabelle Fromantin
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2025 25:219
    Content type: Research Published on:

  15. Stigma has been identified as a significant factor impacting the health of lung cancer patients. However, the relationship between stigma, medical coping modes, and quality of life (QoL) has not been thoroughl...

    Authors: Fengyan Ma, Wei Zheng, Weining Wang, Na Zhang and Yan Liu
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2024 24:1561
    Content type: Research Published on:

  16. Patients with cancer experience physical, mental, and social pain that affects themselves and their families. The increasing cancer incidence and advances in treatment have increased the number of cancer survi...

    Authors: Jung hye Kwon, Jung Hun Kang, Jung-Sik Huh, Su-Jin Koh, Kyu-Hyoung Lim, Byungho Choi, Rock Bum Kim, Young Jin Choi, Eun-Kee Song, Hyun Woo Lee, Ye-Seul Kim, Se-Il Go, Hwan Jung Yun, Sun Jin Sym, Hyewon Ryu and Myung-won Lee
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2024 24:1560
    Content type: Study Protocol Published on:

  17. Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease with most cases diagnosed at an advanced stage resulting in low survival rates. Family members often take on a role of supporting patients’ needs. Families tend to be...

    Authors: Tara Anderson, Gillian Prue, Lisa Graham-Wisener, Susan McLaughlin and Gary Mitchell
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2024 24:1540
    Content type: Study Protocol Published on:

  18. The European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) has recently developed and validated a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) for sexual health (SH) in cancer patients. Here, we present ...

    Authors: Anne S. Oberguggenberger, Veronika I. Engele, Claudia Schmalz, Andy Nordin, Vesna Bjelic-Radisic, Anne Lanceley, Karin Kuljanic, Pernille T. Jensen, Ligita Paskeviciute Frøding, Carien L. Creutzberg, Kristin Zimmermann, Samantha Serpentini, Juan I. Arraras, Eva Nagele, Hilde Toelen and Elfriede Greimel
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2024 24:1374
    Content type: Research Published on:

  19. Patients with cancer (PwC) who undergo specific treatments reported greater fatigue and reduced functional capacity as predominant outcomes, compromising their QoL during and following the treatment. Prehabili...

    Authors: Daniele Gennuso, Angela Baldelli, Loredana Gigli, Ilaria Ruotolo, Giovanni Galeoto, Daniela Gaburri and Giovanni Sellitto
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2024 24:1302
    Content type: Systematic Review Published on:

  21. Stereotactic irradiation has become the mainstay treatment for brain metastases (BM), and whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) is often used for symptom palliation. However, the survival time of patients with BM un...

    Authors: Toshiaki Hirose, Shoichi Deguchi, Kazuaki Yasui, Minoru Inoue, Tsuyoshi Onoe, Hirofumi Ogawa, Hirofumi Asakura, Koichi Mitsuya, Hideyuki Harada, Shigeyuki Murayama, Nakamasa Hayashi, Tetsuo Nishimura and Ryuta Saito
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2024 24:940
    Content type: Research Published on:

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Quality of life and supportive care in cancer" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.