Revealing which needs BC patients consider most urgent and the factors related to greater needs will permit the development of improved and targeted supportive care. Future research should comprise longitudinal designs concentrating on women at specific moments along the BC trajectory for a dynamic understanding of these needs.

To better respond to cancer patients' health care needs, various strategies focusing on doctor-patient communication have been developed. Addressing patients' overall needs and sharing complex information in an emotionally charged context and under time constraints is a daily challenge for the oncology clinician, resulting often in cancer patients' dissatisfaction. Recent interventions elaborated to facilitate doctor-patient communication in oncology focus on patients, such as handing out of videos or written preparatory information; on doctors, such as patients' self-rating feedback to doctors or communication skills trainings; or on both, such as the audiotaping of the consultation or the provision of decision aids. Although these strategies offer promising results, further research should be implemented to assess their appropriateness across sociocultural contexts and their long-term effectiveness in clinical practice.