OBJECTIVE: Breast cancer patients suffer from depressive symptoms during treatments and may show different trajectories of depressive symptoms. The health ecology model provides an integrated perspective for explaining the factors influencing depressive symptoms. This study aimed to (a) analyze the trajectories of depressive symptoms that may occur in breast cancer patients and (b) explore their influencing factors by the health ecology model. METHOD: A total of 236 participants ( RESULTS: Three distinct trajectory groups ("slowly rising"
CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrated the diversity of depressive symptoms changes, along with the impact of factors in psychological behaviors layer and interpersonal networks layer. It helps to identify breast cancer patients at higher risk of increasing or fluctuating depressive symptoms, thereby allowing for relevant psychological interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).