"It's My Job to Love Him": Parenting Adolescents and Young Adults With Advanced Cancer

Caring for Adolescents and Young Adults (AYA) with Cancer: A Scoping Review into Caregiver Burdens and Needs

AYAs with cancer (aged 15 to 39 at primary diagnosis) form a specific group within oncology, and there is limited information on the impact on their informal caregivers. This scoping review aimed to gain insight into the burden on caregivers of AYAs with cancer and identify the unmet needs they might have. Eligible articles focused on impacts in one of the domains of caregiver burden (physical, psychological, social, on schedule, financial) or unmet needs. In all domains of caregiver burden, impact was reported by caregivers. Caregiving leads to physical problems (such as sleep problems) and psychological symptoms (e.g., depression, anxiety, and negative emotions). Loneliness is reported, and little peer-support. Many different tasks and roles must be undertaken, which is perceived as challenging. In addition, there is a financial impact and there are unmet needs to be met. Several domains of the lives of caregivers of AYA cancer patients are negatively affected by the disease. Some of these are age-specific, and tailored to a particular group of caregivers (parents, partners, or friends). AYA cancer patients represent a wide age range, resulting in the engagement of many different caregivers. Future research will need to take this into account in order to adequately provide support.

"The simple life experiences that every other human gets": Desire for normalcy among adolescents and young adults with advanced cancer

BACKGROUND

Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with advanced cancer identify normalcy as an important component of quality end-of-life care. We sought to define domains of normalcy and identify ways in which clinicians facilitate or hinder normalcy during advanced cancer care.

PROCEDURE

This was a secondary analysis of a qualitative study that aimed to identify priority domains for end-of-life care. Content analysis of semi-structured interviews among AYAs aged 12-39 years with advanced cancer, caregivers, and clinicians was used to evaluate transcripts. Coded excerpts were reviewed to identify themes related to normalcy.

RESULTS

Participants included 23 AYAs with advanced cancer, 28 caregivers, and 29 clinicians. Participants identified five domains of normalcy including relationships, activities, career/school, milestones, and appearance. AYAs and caregivers identified that clinicians facilitate normalcy through exploration of these domains with AYAs, allowing flexibility in care plans, identification of short-term and long-term goals across normalcy domains, and recognizing losses of normalcy that occur during cancer care.

CONCLUSIONS

AYAs with cancer experience multiple threats to normalcy during advanced cancer care. Clinicians can attend to normalcy and improve AYA quality of life by acknowledging these losses through ongoing discussions on how best to support domains of normalcy and by reinforcing AYA identities beyond a cancer diagnosis.

Quality of Life in Adolescents and Young Adults: The Role of Symptom Burden

CONTEXT

Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer report worse health-related quality of life (HRQOL) than other age groups. Symptom burden is a modifiable predictor of HRQOL.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to identify which symptoms are most burdensome to AYAs with advanced cancer.

METHODS

In this observational study, English-speaking individuals aged 12-25 years undergoing treatment for advanced cancer completed assessments of symptom burden (Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale) and HRQOL (Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Generic Form and Cancer Module; minimal clinically important difference 4.4). We dichotomized participants as having low (<7) or high (≥7) symptom prevalence. Mixed regression models estimated HRQOL differences between groups. For individual symptoms, unadjusted mixed models estimated HRQOL reductions.

RESULTS

N = 58 AYAs completed baseline surveys. The median age was 17 years (IQR 15-19), 58% were male, 59% identified as white, and 44% were diagnosed with leukemia/lymphoma. High symptom prevalence was associated with a mean generic HRQOL 7 points lower (95% CI: -11, -3; P < 0.01) and cancer-specific HRQOL score 12 points lower (95% CI: -17, -7; P < 0.01) than low symptom prevalence. The most prevalent symptoms were fatigue (71%), pain (58%), and difficulty sleeping (58%). Fatigue (-8), difficulty concentrating (-7), and mouth sores (-6) were associated with the greatest generic HRQOL score reductions. Dysphagia (-12), difficulty concentrating (-12), and sadness (-11) were associated with the greatest cancer-specific HRQOL score reductions.

CONCLUSION

The symptom experience among AYAs with advanced cancer is unique. Separate evaluation of AYA's symptoms may optimize management and improve HRQOL.

Stuck Moments and Silver-Linings: The Spectrum of Adaptation Among Non-Bereaved and Bereaved Parents of Adolescents and Young Adults With Advanced Cancer

CONTEXT

With advances in treatments that have resulted in children living longer with serious illness, it is essential to understand how parents adapt to changes during the final stages of their child's life or after their child's death.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the process by which parents adapt to their child's serious illness and death among a group of non-bereaved and bereaved parents of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with advanced cancer.

METHODS

Qualitative study exploring the experiences of parents of AYAs who were being treated for recurrent or refractory advanced cancer (nonbereaved parents) or had died from their disease (bereaved parents) at one large academic center. Participants completed demographic surveys and semi-structured interviews to better understand parent adaptation. Data were analyzed using content and thematic approaches.

RESULTS

Of the 37 participating parents; 22 (59%) were non-bereaved and 15 (41%) were bereaved. The AYAs predominantly had hematologic malignancies (n = 18/34, 53%). Across both cohorts, parents described the process of adapting to their child's worsening health or death as moments of feeling stuck and moments of gratitude and meaning.

CONCLUSION

Adaptation to a child's serious illness and death likely occurs on a dynamic spectrum and parents may oscillate both cognitively and emotionally. This has important implications for how clinicians and communities support parents. Greater comfort with and normalization of the adaptation process may enable parents to more openly share both the unimaginable hardships and unexpected silver-linings that are part of their parenting experiences during their child's illness and death.