Effects of mindfulness on women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy: integrative review (2019–2025)

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy frequently face a high prevalence of anxiety, depression, and cognitive decline ("chemobrain"), compromising treatment adherence and quality of life. Objective: This integrative review, part of the doctoral research "Effects of Brief Focal Psychotherapy on Anxiety and Depression in Women with Breast Cancer Undergoing Neoadjuvant Treatment" (Medical School/Federal University of Goiás), aimed to synthesize evidence on the reduction of these symptoms and cognitive improvement through Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) during chemotherapy. Methods: The Whittemore and Knafl (2005) method was adopted, with a systematic search in the MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Scopus databases (2019–2025), using the following MeSH descriptors: "mindfulness", "MBSR", "breast cancer", "chemotherapy", "stress", "anxiety", "depression", and "cognition". The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria guided the selection: 1,390 articles were identified; after double screening of titles/abstracts and full texts, four studies were included for focusing on women diagnosed with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Data were extracted into a standardized spreadsheet. Results: The studies indicated that MBSR provided significantly better results for quality of life, anxiety, depression, and emotional cognitive regulation. Conclusion: MBSR is effective as an oncological adjunct, and one of the studies recommends combined intervention with acupressure, which further improved the outcomes.