Background Partnership nursing in paediatric oncology, palliative, and supportive care is essential for optimising both patient and family outcomes. Nurses play a key role in symptom management, emotional support, and care coordination, while families require guidance, effective communication, and psychosocial support. Although important, evidence on nurses' experiences and the impact on family outcomes is still scattered. Objective This systematic review aims to synthesize current evidence on nurses' experiences and family outcomes in paediatric oncology palliative and supportive care. Methods An umbrella review was performed to summarise evidence from previously published systematic reviews, qualitative systematic reviews, integrative reviews, scoping reviews, meta-syntheses, and qualitative evidence syntheses. A wide-ranging literature search was conducted on multiple databases, such as PubMed, PMC, and CareSearch, for reviews from 2016 to 2026. The total number of included studies was 18 and covered nurses' experiences, family perspectives, and supportive care interventions in paediatric oncology palliative settings. Data were extracted on study design, population, and key findings related to nursing roles, family outcomes, communication, and care models. Results The data reveal the significant emotional and professional challenges faced by nurses, including the provision of end of life care, the management of symptom burden, and assisting families with decision making processes. Families report mixed experiences with care coordination, psychosocial support and communication, with unmet needs for guidance, education and emotional support. Home-based and community palliative care models, including eHealth interventions, lead to improved family satisfaction, symptom control and quality of life outcomes. Integrative and qualitative syntheses suggest that effective nurse-family partnerships improve child comfort, family coping, and perceived quality of care. Conclusion Nurses' experiences in paediatric oncology palliative care are strongly associated with outcomes for families. Supporting nurses with education, structured interventions, and communication training is key to optimising family-centered care. Future research should focus on standardized partnership models that strengthen nurse–family collaboration and measure both psychosocial and clinical outcomes.
Donia Elsaid Fathi Zaghamir (Mon,) studied this question.
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