Increased hope levels correlate with life satisfaction in cancer patients: A systematic review

Introduction: Hope is an integral and essential part of the cancer journey. Its association with satisfaction has been described in previous studies. Measures to increase cancer patients’ levels of hope may contribute to the perception of an improvement in patient-centered healthcare delivery. Methods: Four databases (Pubmed, Scopus, Embase, and CINAHL) were queried for relevant studies. The study inclusion criteria were limited to the peer-reviewed original research articles published in English. Results: Four hundred seventy seven articles, published between 1911 and 2020, were found. Nine studies with different cancer populations met the inclusion criteria. A positive correlation between hope levels and life, marital, and information satisfaction was observed in all studies. Analysis of five studies that reported correlation coefficients showed a moderate correlation between hope and satisfaction with life. Conclusion: The described relationship between hope and patient satisfaction should encourage the development of new techniques to increase hope levels in cancer patients to improve their satisfaction with the quality of healthcare delivery received. Future prospective studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of hope interventions on satisfaction levels in cancer patients. Reliability testing and comparison of current hope and satisfaction scales would allow for determining the “gold standard” scales and standardizing the research in this area.

Duke Scholars

Author Adam I Perlman Medicine, General Internal Medicine