Access to mental health support for rural cancer survivors: a scoping Review

Objective: This review is an individual master's student-led scoping review. This scoping review will analyze: What factors influence access to mental health services for cancer survivors in rural areas? What strategies are available to improve access to mental health services for cancer survivors living in rural areas? Introduction: The research recognizes different types of cancer can cause or exacerbate serious mental illness (Purushotham et al., 2013). In addition, rural communities suffer from a disproportionate amount of adverse health outcomes (Probst et al., 2019). The primary issue examined are the barriers accessing mental health support for rural cancer survivors. Inclusion Criteria: The review will cover literature on cancer survivors who finished their treatment. The focal concept is accessibility to mental health services for cancer survivors. The setting for the review is rural and underserved areas. Methods: The databases searched were CINAHL Plus (EBSCOhost), MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Embase.com), and APA PsycINFO (EBSCOhost). Publications in English and published from 2003 to the present. This scoping review followed the JBI Method protocols. Results: In this dataset, 27 articles were included. A data collection table was created to categorize similar findings which demonstrated the following themes for both research questions. Travel and Transportation, Lack of Education, Community, Financial Challenges, More Research, Better Transitions, Survivorship Care Plans, Rural Locations, Telehealth, and Peer Support. Conclusion: It would be beneficial to investigate the particular mental health support programs available in rural communities and examine the challenges, utilization, and effectiveness of these programs.