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Cancer Survivorship and Care / Cancer Related Cognitive Impairment Studies / Oral Health in Cancer Treatment · Journal article
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies · September 4, 2026
Early or partial results. Treat as a signal, not a conclusion.
This scoping review maps 68 published studies of non-pharmacological interventions for head and neck cancer symptom management during chemoradiotherapy, categorizing interventions into 9 types and outcome measures into 6 classes. The review does not synthesize effects or assess study quality, instead identifying implementation complexities and a gap for standardized, theory-driven trials.
Scoping review. Studies of head and neck cancer patients during the peri-chemoradiotherapy period receiving non-pharmacological symptom management interventions.. Intervention: Non-pharmacological interventions for symptom management (categorized into 9 distinct types); primarily nurse-delivered and home-based..
68 eligible studies included examining non-pharmacological interventions for HNC during peri-chemoradiotherapy Interventions categorized into 9 distinct categories; outcome measures classified into 6 categories Nurses identified as primary deliverers; interventions most frequently conducted in home settings
68 eligible studies included examining non-pharmacological interventions for HNC during peri-chemoradiotherapy
This review identifies what non-pharmacological interventions exist and how they are measured, but does not quantify their effectiveness. Clinicians should recognize it as a landscape map rather than evidence of efficacy, and should await the standardized, theory-driven trials the authors recommend.
A scoping review mapping the landscape of non-pharmacological interventions without quality assessment, effect synthesis, or meta-analysis; descriptive and gap-identifying rather than outcome-determining.
As stated by the source record.
Quoted from the source exactly as published.
This review identifies what non-pharmacological interventions exist and how they are measured, but does not quantify their effectiveness. Clinicians should recognize it as a landscape map rather than evidence of efficacy, and should await the standardized, theory-driven trials the authors recommend.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
Head and neck cancer (HNC) is a globally prevalent malignancy. However, HNC therapies often induce distressing symptoms that impair patients quality of life and treatment adherence. While non-pharmacological interventions are guideline-recommended for symptom management, a comprehensive overview of their current landscape is lacking. Guided by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) complex intervention framework, this scoping review aims to: (1) catalogue non-pharmacological interventions for HNC patients during the peri-chemoradiotherapy; (2) detail the outcome measures assessing their effectiveness; (3) examine intervention development methodologies and frameworks; (4) assess pilot testing and efficacy evaluations; (5) categorize and analyze facilitators and barriers of implementation. In accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist, PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and other databases were searched from inception to May 2025. A total of 68 eligible studies were included in the present study. Nurses were the primary deliverers of these interventions, which were most frequently conducted in home settings. Interventions were categorized into 9 distinct categories, and main outcome measures could be classified into 6 categories. The results revealed the multifaceted complexities of implementing interventions across patient, healthcare provider, program design, and systemic levels. Given this scoping review only maps published literature without quality assessment or effect synthesis, the research demands summarized from included studies point to an urgent need for standardized, theory-driven, patient-centered non-pharmacological interventions integrated into HNC care pathways. Future trials are recommended to boost intervention adaptability, strengthen methodological standards, and improve the scalability and sustainability of non-pharmacological symptom management.
Taken from the source record, never inferred. Follow any of these and new work involving them reaches your briefing.