Improving communication between healthcare professionals and patients living with advanced breast cancer: a global expert review and call-to-action for 2025–2035 (Goal 5)

The complexity of advanced breast cancer (ABC) and its treatment landscape makes communication between healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients particularly challenging. It is essential that all HCPs receive comprehensive communication skills training starting at medical or nursing school and continuing throughout their careers. Effective communication can improve trust, treatment adherence, and ultimately, outcomes; it also facilitates shared and educated decision-making, all of which is crucial to ensure patients receive the most appropriate treatment and care. This manuscript explores the global landscape of communication skills training, highlights remaining communication gaps, and assesses the preference for, and implementation of, shared decision-making in clinical practice. It draws on research conducted for the ABC Global Alliance's Global Decade Report 2.0. The main findings are: a) Communication skills trainings now cover a broader range of topics; b) People with ABC report their broader communication needs are often not met; c) Doctors and patients differ in their preferences for shared decision-making in ABC; d) Improving ABC care requires patients to feel supported in expressing their needs. The findings from the ABC Global Alliance's Global Decade Report 2.0 have informed the development of a new ABC Global Charter. The ABC Global Charter 2.0 defines ten new achievable and measurable goals for the decade 2025-2035, aiming at improving the lives of people living with ABC worldwide.