Objective To conduct a systematic review on the attitudes towards breaking bad news among family members of cancer patients, and to provide a reference for clinical staffers′ truth telling practice. Methods The databases of PubMed, Embase, Web of science, CINAHL, CNKI, WanFang, and VIP, were searched to collect all the qualitative studies on attitudes and perspectives towards breaking bad news in family members of cancer patients from inception to December 28th, 2020.JBI′s Meta-synthesis method was used to integrate the results. Results Totally, 49 findings, extracted from 12 qualified studies, were grouped into 13 categories, which finally converged to form 3 synthesized results: disclosure of all the bad news; delivery of bad news selectively; avoidance of delivering bad news. Conclusion The family members of cancer patients held various attitude towards breaking bad news.Medical personnel are suggested to improve their own communication ability, and dynamically and continuously assess the attitude and willingness of patients and family about disclosing bad news. Besides, medical personnel should provide adequate information and social support, which not only helps patients exercise their right to be informed and to make autonomous decisions, but also satisfies patients′ needs, and lifts the burden of family members.