Patient Voice and Treatment Nonadherence in Cancer Care: A Scoping Review of Sentiment Analysis

TL;DR

This study uses sentiment analysis of patient-generated content to explore why cancer patients do not follow treatment recommendations and how communication can be improved.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel use of sentiment analysis to uncover emotional and communication factors linked to treatment nonadherence in cancer care.

Findings

Sentiment analysis revealed unmet emotional needs and suboptimal communication as barriers to treatment adherence.

Misinformation and perceived clinician bias were identified as key factors affecting patient concordance.

The study suggests practical nursing interventions like distress screening and teach-back methods to improve adherence.

Abstract

Background: Treatment nonadherence in oncology is common. Surveys often miss why patients do not follow recommendations. We synthesised Natural Language Processing (NLP) studies, mainly sentiment analysis, of patient-generated content (social media, forums, blogs, review sites, and survey free text) to identify communication and relationship factors linked to nonadherence and concordance. Methods: We conducted a scoping review (PRISMA-ScR). Searches of PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus from 2013 to 15 June 2024 identified eligible studies. We included 25 studies. Data were charted by source, cancer type, NLP technique, and adherence/concordance indicators, then synthesised via discourse analysis and narrative synthesis. Results: Four themes emerged: (1) unmet emotional needs; (2) suboptimal information and communication; (3) unclear concordance within person-centred care; and (4) misinformation dynamics and perceived clinician bias. Sentiment analysis helped identify emotions and information gaps that surveys often miss. Conclusions: Patient-voice data suggest practical actions for nursing, including routine distress screening, teach-back, misinformation countermeasures, and explicit concordance checks to improve adherence and shared decision making. Registration: Not registered.

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