OBJECTIVES : To evaluate the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions in the control of unpleasant symptoms associated with the administration of chemotherapeutic agents in adult cancer patients.

METHODS : This systematic review was performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and MetaAnalysis (PRISMA) guidelines. An exhaustive literature search was conducted using PubMed, EMBASE, LILACS, OVID, Cochrane, and Epistemonikos. Based on the rating of patient and expert outcomes, the outcomes were prioritized on an evaluation scale (GRADE collaboration tool), primary critical outcomes like Vomiting, Nausea, Neutropenia, Neuropathy, and Pain were taken into account. References were selected in three stages in duplicate. The quality of the evidence was evaluated by two independent reviewers using the Cochrane's Risk of Bias tool and The Newcastle Ottawa Scale (NOS).

RESULTS : Initial search retrieved 6358 references; after screening by title and abstract and duplicate removal, 97 studies were identified for full-text evaluation. Twenty-one studies were included, involving 1936 subjects; the mean age of the individuals was 52.5 with female predominance (77%). The most common type of cancer was breast cancer (47%), followed by lung and gastric cancer (19%). The design of studies included were randomized clinical trials, quasi-experimental, and cohort studies.

CONCLUSIONS : The benefits of implementing this type of non-pharmacological interventions such as acupuncture, acupressure, and musicotherapy are non-invasiveness, no need for special tools or instruments, availability, and ease of use by nurses and patients, which can lead to the implementation by the patients themselves, eliminating the need to be visited in the doctor's office. It is imperative that patients receiving chemotherapy receive support from these interventions to improve their treatment and the experience of symptoms. More studies are required to confirm the effectiveness of these interventions and support treatments in clinical practice. This is the first systematic review describing non-pharmacological interventions in prioritized outcomes (patients and health workers).