A Systematic Review on Positive Social Emotions and Well-being in an Oncological Population

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the available scientific evidence on the study of positive social emotions (empathy, compassion, self-pity and gratitude) in the oncological population according to the evolutionary stage (children, adolescents and adults). In addition, studies that address the effects of experiencing this type of emotions on the psychological wellbeing of the patient with cancer were examined. Method: In order to do this, the databases of Scielo, Latindex, EBSCO, PudMed, SCOPUS, Redalyc, Google Academic, PsycINFO and ReserchGate were reviewed. From a total of 450 identified bibliographic references, 29 articles that met the defined selection criteria were selected. Results and Conclusions: It was observed that in recent years (2015 to 2020) the number of studies on these variables in the cancer population has increased. In addition, most of the studies reviewed indicate that positive emotions play a protective role against the disease, since they enable post-traumatic growth and improve the quality of life and psychological well-being of cancer patients. However, few studies have been found on the positive emotions addressed in the present systematic review, particularly in the oncopediatric population.