Page 40 - IJPS-11-5

International Journal of
Population Studies Self-compassion for infertility in breast cancer

et al. (2019) reported that self-compassion was protective in reducing anxiety and depression and increasing self-
for a range of psychological well-being self-report measures compassion for women pursuing fertility treatment.
in 195 breast cancer survivors. Self-compassion has also To improve the efficacy of compassion-focused therapy
been demonstrated to moderate stress and protect self-care interventions with cancer patients Wei et al. (2023)
behaviors, which are important for recovery post-treatment identified self-compassion profiles that influence treatment
for breast cancer survivors (Abdollahi et al., 2020). outcome, recommending that interventions be tailored
3.2. Self-compassion is protective against infertility- to match the individual’s particular self-compassion
related psychological impact profile. We, therefore, suggest that any compassion-based
interventions be mindful of these profiles and tailor
Self-compassion is also protective for infertile females. content to the individual as far as practical. Intervention
Hoyle et al. (2022) found that self-compassion is a coordinators must consider which practices to implement,
protective factor against psychological distress in women as not all may be appropriate in cancer survivors, and some
in the U.S. experiencing infertility. This finding has common self-compassion exercises, such as body scanning,
recently been replicated in an Iranian study by Hajihasani could cause further distress (Lathren et al., 2018).
& Ekhtiari Amiri (2023). These findings suggested that
self-compassion may protect women from psychological 4. Conclusion
distress derived from infertility. As Gilbert (2022) has
outlined, self-compassion enables those experiencing grief The outcome of this propositional commentary based on
at lost possibilities, such as infertility, to approach the the synthesis of literature from breast cancer and fertility
complex arising emotions from a foundation of courage, research is a set of three specific recommendations.
protected against self-blame (Uneno et al., 2022; Young & First, further to the latest guidance from the ESO-ESMO
Kotera, 2022). Such psychological resourcing may explain (Paluch-Shimon et al., 2022), we recommend that cancer
the benefits of self-compassion within this population. treatment impact to fertility for pre-menopausal females be
included within all breast cancer educational interventions.
3.3. Proposal for integrative self-compassion Consideration of inclusion of such information should
interventions within breast cancer care
be given to existing information campaigns as well as
Psychological adjuncts to cancer treatment have been prospective campaigns. Appropriate messaging per
shown to lead to improved outcomes for patients when audience should be determined through trials. The existing
delivered before cancer treatment (Chen & Ahmad, information leaflet template provided by ESHRE (2020)
2018). We propose a novel integration of self-compassion should be considered as a resource for such interventions.
interventions be applied within breast cancer clinical Second, based on the foregoing review, we recommend
care, building on groundwork from both breast cancer that a self-compassion intervention addressing the specific
and primary infertility research areas, since (a) self- reproduction concerns of young breast cancer patients
compassion is found to be a protective factor for breast and survivors be developed and implemented within a
cancer and primary infertility populations independently, multidisciplinary care team. For maximum efficacy, the
and (b) evidence suggests that the distressing experiences intervention should commence ahead of cancer treatment
of each of these populations mirrors each other (Bártolo (Chen & Ahmad, 2018), account for individual self-
et al., 2020). This intervention would seek to alleviate the compassion profiles (Wei et al., 2023), and persist for a
psychological harm infertility risk related to breast cancer minimum of 4 weeks (Fan et al., 2023). Delivery may be
treatment may cause, or has caused, while concomitantly in-person or internet-mediated (Fan et al., 2023), and can
developing inner coping resources translatable to other life make use of innovations in therapeutic aids, such as digital
domains. To form an impression of what this intervention storytelling (Njogu et al., 2023).
integration might offer, we can draw on recent intervention
findings from each independent context. Systematic review Finally, it must be acknowledged that for young
and meta-analysis of compassion-based intervention trials breast cancer patients and survivors, a measure of grief is
for breast cancer patients (Fan et al., 2023) show that self- associated with fertility loss (Campbell-Enns & Woodgate,
compassion is enhanced and depression reduced regardless 2017), indicating that this may be a crucial element of the
of delivery mediums, either in-person or web-based, with individual experience that must be sensitively supported
the strongest effects found for extended interventions through any planned intervention.
(4–12 weeks) rather than brief interventions (30 min). Acknowledgments
Similarly, Njogu et al. (2023) found that both video and
digital story self-compassion interventions were effective None.

Volume 11 Issue 5 (2025) 34 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.1724