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To explore the barriers experienced and perceived by health professionals and patients in the delivery of psychosocial care to adults with cancer.

Systematic searches were undertaken using the PsychInfo, Medline and CINAHL electronic databases, up to October 2013. Research reporting health professional or patient experiences and perceptions of barriers to psychosocial care are included in the review. The systematic review includes studies that have non‐experimental, exploratory and observational designs, as is appropriate to answer the review question. Included studies were critically appraised. The results of individual quantitative studies were aggregated. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative results.

Twenty‐five papers met the pre‐specified inclusion criteria for the final review. The most commonly perceived barrier for patients relates to receiving …