Global therapeutic mobilities and cancer: a scoping review

• Published in: BMJ open Vol. 15; no. 6; p. e089780
• Main Authors: Schantz, Clémence, Boisson, Sarah, Prost-Lançon, Léa, Bonnet, Emmanuel, Dancoisne, Aurélien, Baron, Myriam, Bochaton, Audrey, Aboubakar, Moufalilou, Guetz, Gaëtan Des, Gosselin, Anne, Petitet, Pascale Hancart, Larmarange, Joseph, Niangaly, Hamidou, Rath, Beauta, Teixeira, Luis, Traoré, Bakary Abou, Agbodande, Anthelme K, Agbodjavou, Mena, Bun, Tararath, Chabrol, Fanny, Coulibaly, Abdourahmane, Coulibaly, Karna, Denakpo, Justin Lewis, duLoû, Annabel Desgrées, Faye, Kadiatou, Gnangnon, Freddy, Hong, Sineath, Kao, Vannarith, Lançon, Léa Prost, Muy, Kimsophanuth, Ridde, Valéry, Robin, Julie, Sacca, Hélène, Angéline, Laetitia Someil, Bagnan, Tonato, Traoré, Alassane
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England British Medical Journal Publishing Group 18.06.2025; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Publishing Group
• Subjects: Cancer therapies; Developing countries; Geography; Global Health; Grey literature; Health; Health behavior; Health care access; Health care expenditures; Health disparities; Health Services; Health Services Accessibility; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; LDCs; Mixed methods research; Mobility; Neoplasms - therapy; ONCOLOGY; Original Research; Public Health; Sociology; Systematic Review; Transnationalism; Health Services; ONCOLOGY; Health; Health Services Accessibility; Systematic Review
• ISSN: 2044-6055; 2044-6055
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-089780

IntroductionResearch on therapeutic mobility is abundant but the field of cancer has not yet been investigated thoroughly. This scoping review aims to examine the existing evidence on global therapeutic mobility and cancer, providing a comprehensive overview of the subject.MethodsWe conducted a scoping review and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses methodological guidelines. We developed a comprehensive search strategy and discussed it with the research team. We searched for peer-reviewed papers on Medline, Embase, ERIC and American Psychological Association via the Dialogue interface and Google Scholar and CAIRN bibliographic database for peer-reviewed articles. We also included grey literature, such as unpublished work and relevant reports from Érudit. We considered studies that employed quantitative or qualitative methods.ResultsAmong the 1615 references initially selected, 767 duplicates were excluded. Then, 849 studies were screened on title and abstract and 800 were excluded as they did not meet inclusion criteria. 49 studies were fully screened and 21 were excluded as they did not meet inclusion criteria based on full-text assessment. Ultimately, 28 references were included in the data synthesis. This scoping review has shown that publications on therapeutic mobilities have multiplied in recent years, with a turning point in 2019. A range of academic disciplines and research methodologies are currently employed to describe them. A significant proportion of fieldwork is concentrated in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Despite the heterogeneity of the approaches and fields, there are certain common features that emerge: first, the decision to migrate for healthcare is primarily made by the patient themselves and is perceived by them as being non-choice; second, the family plays a central role at all stages of the migration; and third, the migration has a catastrophic impact in terms of social and financial burden.ConclusionIn conclusion, this scoping review highlights the underexplored relationship between global therapeutic mobility and cancer, emphasising the need for increased research efforts to understand the global dynamics of cancer care mobility.