Humanizing Cancer Care through Art-Based Psychosocial Support: A Narrative Review and the CARE-ART Framework for Supportive Oncology

Ignacio Bonasa Alzuria.

Abstract

Background: Cancer care has achieved remarkable biomedical progress, yet cancer remains a profoundly psychological, relational, social, and existential experience. Anxiety, depression, fear of recurrence, body-image disruption, family strain, loneliness, and loss of meaning may accompany diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, recurrence, and advanced disease.

Aim: This article develops a scientifically cautious and practice-oriented argument for integrating art-based psychosocial support into supportive oncology and proposes the CARE-ART Framework as an ethical and implementation-ready model.

Methods: A narrative review approach was used to synthesize selected peer-reviewed literature, clinical guidelines, institutional reports, and recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses concerning cancer-related distress, psycho-oncology, creative arts therapies, art therapy, music therapy, quality of life, and humanized care. This is not a systematic review and does not claim exhaustive retrieval.

Results: The literature suggests that creative arts therapies and art-based interventions may support anxiety and depression reduction and may improve selected dimensions of quality of life, although effects vary by modality, population, setting, duration, and methodological quality. Music therapy has stronger guideline visibility for anxiety and depression symptoms in adults with cancer, while visual art-based interventions show promising but heterogeneous evidence.

Conclusion: Art-based psychosocial support should not be presented as a cancer treatment or as a substitute for evidence-based oncology, psycho oncology, psychiatric, palliative, or social care. Its value lies in complementing clinical care by creating spaces for expression, dignity, agency, connection, meaning, and emotional regulation. The CARE-ART Framework offers a structured pathway for ethically integrating art-based support into cancer services and for guiding future research.