Cancer Care Burden among Primary Family Caregivers of Iranian Hematologic Cancer Patients

The Magnitude of Care Burden and Associated Factors in Caregivers of Children with Cancer at the Country's Largest Tertiary Referral Hospital, Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objectives. Many caregivers who care for their children with cancer are affected by the care burden due to the chronic nature of the disease. This study aimed to determine the burden of care level and its related factors in the caregivers of children with cancer. Methods. A facility-based, cross-sectional study was conducted at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital. Children diagnosed with cancer and treated at the hospital between July 1 and August 1, 2023, and their caregivers were included. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 25. Descriptive analysis and inferential statistics were used to summarize the data and to determine the association with the dependent variable. Statistical significance was set at P < .05. Results. A total of 208 children with cancer and their caregivers were included in the study. Most children (81, 38.9%) were below 5 years of age, and 80.3% (n = 167) of the patients came from out of Addis Ababa. The most common type of childhood cancer was haemato-lymphoid cancer (n = 117, 56.3%). The mean duration of cancer care after diagnosis was 289.55 days. The median age of caregivers was 35 ± 8.7 years, most of the caregivers were parents of the child (n = 185, 88.9%), married (n = 186, 87%), had a primary level education (n = 66, 31.7), and 87.5% (n = 182) had insufficient income for the cancer treatment cost. The average caring time was 19 to 24 hours for 76.4% (n = 159) of caregivers, and more than one-fourth of caregivers (n = 57, 27.4%) intended to abandon treatment if they couldn't get support to continue the care. The mean care burden in caregivers was 65.76 ± 14 and about, 53.4% (n = 111) and 35.1% (n = 73) of caregivers had moderate and severe care burden. Binary logistic analysis showed the factors associated with an increased care burden were the caregiver's occupational status (P = .034, 95 % CI; AOR (0.064, 0.890)), lack of support from NGOs (P = .037, 95 % CI; AOR (1.053, 5.254), and insufficient monthly income for the treatment (P = .034; 95% CI; AOR (0.064, 0.896)). Conclusion. Most of the caregivers of children with cancer were parents and had insufficient income for the treatment. More than one-fourth had an intention to abandon the cancer treatment. Most caregivers had moderate to severe care burdens.

Measurement of the major ignored burden of multiple myeloma, pernicious anaemia and of other haematological conditions on partners and family members: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Having a haematological condition can adversely affect the quality of life (QoL) of family members/partners of patients. It is important to measure this often ignored burden in order to implement appropriate supportive interventions.

OBJECTIVE

To measure current impact of haematological conditions on the QoL of family members/partners of patients, using the Family Reported Outcome Measure-16 (FROM-16).

METHODS

A cross-sectional study, recruited online through patient support groups, involved UK family members/partners of people with haematological conditions completing the FROM-16.

RESULTS

183 family members/partners (mean age = 60.5 years, SD = 13.2; females = 62.8%) of patients (mean age = 64.1, SD = 12.8; females = 46.4%) with 12 haematological conditions completed the FROM-16. The FROM-16 mean total score was 14.0 (SD = 7.2), meaning 'a moderate effect on QoL'. The mean FROM-16 scores of family members of people with multiple myeloma (mean = 15.8, SD = 6.3, n = 99) and other haematological malignancies (mean = 13.9, SD = 7.8, n = 29) were higher than of people with pernicious anaemia (mean = 10.7, SD = 7.5, n = 47) and other non-malignant conditions (mean = 11, SD = 7.4, n = 56, p < .01). Over one third (36.1%, n = 183) of family members experienced a 'very large effect' (FROM-16 score>16) on their quality of life.

CONCLUSIONS

Haematological conditions, in particular those of malignant type, impact the QoL of family members/partners of patients. Healthcare professionals can now, using FROM-16, identify those most affected and should consider how to provide appropriate holistic support within routine practice.

Financial toxicity in hematological malignancies: a systematic review

Hematologic malignancy outcomes have remarkably improved in the past decade with further advancement expected in future years. However, the detrimental effects of financial toxicity (FT) on patients with hematologic malignancies, because of both diagnoses and subsequent treatments, have not been studied comprehensively. We performed a systematic review of all studies reporting FT as a primary or secondary outcome among adult or pediatric patients with hematological malignancies. A total of 55 studies met the inclusion criteria for analysis. Across studies, 20-50% of patients reported some form of FT, including loss of work productivity, food and transportation costs, and depletion of savings. Younger age, lower-income level, unemployment, and rural residence were the most commonly identified risk factors for FT. Two studies looked at survival outcomes, with one reporting improvement in survival with a decrease in financial toxicity. However, significant heterogeneity in FT definitions was found between countries and payor systems. Only half of the studies (51%, n = 28) used validated survey instruments such as the COST assessment. The present systematic review identified that FT is common in patients with hematological malignancies and may be associated with poorer outcomes. However, studies of FT generally use non-standardized methods with cross-sectional analyses rather than longitudinal, prospective assessments. Further work is needed to standardize FT reporting and investigate measures to alleviate FT among patients with hematologic malignancies.

Instruments to assess the burden of care for family caregivers of adult palliative care patients

BACKGROUND

A primary caregiver shares the illness experience of the patient and undertakes vital care work, alongside managing the patient's emotions, and is actively involved in care process without being paid. When faced with the palliative care patient's needs, caregivers are affected on multiple levels (physical, psychological and socio-economic), thereby experiencing a moderate or severe burden of care.

AIM

To identify assessment instruments for the burden of care for family caregivers that are suitable to be used in clinical practice.

METHOD

A narrative review was conducted using an electronic search in Pubmed, PsychINFO, CINAHL of articles published in English between 2009-2019, using the search terms: 'caregiver/family, caregiver/carer and burden and palliative care/hospice/end of life'. An assessment grid was developed to appraise the clinical use of identified instruments.

RESULTS

Of the 568 articles identified, 40 quantitative studies were selected using 31 instruments to measure the caregiver burden of cancer, noncancer and terminally ill patients. Most instruments 23 (74.11%) evaluate the psycho-emotional and, 22 (70.96%) the social domain, 12 instruments (38.7%) focused on the physical domain, three (9.67%) on the spiritual field and six instruments (19.35%) on economic aspects. For the multidimensional instruments, the assessment grid scored highest for the Burden Scale for Family Caregiver (BSFC).

CONCLUSION

The BSFC is the tool that seems to meet the most requirements, being potentially the most useful tool in clinical practice.

Identification of Psychological and Social Problems in Caregivers of Individuals Diagnosed with Hematologic Malignancy

Objective:

Caring for patients with hematological malignancy could lead to many problems in different aspects regarding the lives of caregivers. However, there is limited data on the emotional and social problems of caregivers, who deal with patients of hematological malignancy. The aim of this study is to determine the emotional and social problems in caregivers of individuals diagnosed with hematological malignancy.

Methods:

The study was carried out descriptively to identify the emotional and social problems in the relatives of the patients diagnosed with hematological malignancy as their caregivers, as well as the factors affecting these problems. The data of the study were collected with the Introductory Information Form and Identification of Emotional and Social Problems Form that were administered to the relatives of the patients. The data were evaluated by using Spearman's Rho correlation analysis and the Logit analysis in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software.

Results:

Among the caregivers, 59.8% were in the age group of 30–51 years, and 66.2% were female. Of the caregivers, 70.1% had difficulty in fulfilling their responsibilities. Spiritual distress had the highest score among the emotional problems, and experiencing caregiver strain had the highest score among the social problems. In the Logit model, the changes in the professional life was the variable that affects the emotional and social problems the most and significantly. In addition, emotional problems were affected by the financial problems at a statistically significant level.

Conclusions:

In this study, it is suggested that the caregivers should be provided with certain conveniences in their professional lives based on the fact that the problem, which affected emotional and social problems the most, is the change in the professional life; it is recommended that further studies should be carried out on the caregivers.

Assessment of Mental Health Elderly with Chronic Pain Based on Quranic Components

Considering the presence of mental disorders during illness or old age, it is necessary to pay attention to the mental health of the elderly. A modeling of the God's attributes means that one understands God's perception of his/her existential poverty; and on the other hand, one endeavors to work in the human domain in order to replicate and utilize the names and attributes of God the Almighty. For this reason, this study aims to determine the mental health (MH) assessment of elderly people with chronic pain (CP) based on Quranic components. The study is a descriptive cross-sectional study. A total of 138 elderly people who are aged over 65 years and had history of CP were enrolled. Data were collected using Islamic Questionnaire of Identifying God's Traits in the same, and analysis was performed using SPSS ver. 16. The mean (SD) of age in elderly is 81.00 (12.07), and as the age increased, the God's Traits score of the elderly increased (p = 0.003, R = 0.34). The mean overall God's Traits score was 234.68 (3.61). In the elderly who lived with their spouse and had higher social support, the score of God's Traits was higher (p > 0.05), but there was no relationship between other demographic characteristics and status of God's Traits (p > 0.05). This study is the first study to evaluate the MH status of chronic patients based on Quranic components, and their MH status has been high. It is suggested that the relationship between MH based on Quranic components and variables related to health be measured.

Hope in Iranian mothers of children with cancer: a descriptive correlational study

PURPOSE

This study aims to examine the relationship between the level of hope in mothers who have a child with cancer and its related factors in Iran.

METHOD

A cross-sectional and descriptive correlational design was used in this study. A demographic questionnaire and the Herth Hope Index (HHI) were administered to a sample of 240 mothers who have a child with cancer to assess level of hope. Mothers were also asked to indicate their highest priority hopes such as view of their supportive resources including financial support, psychosocial support, religiosity and spirituality. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, Spearman's rho, independent sample t test and one-way ANOVA.

RESULTS

The mean HHI score was 35.44 (n = 237). There was a positive correlation between HHI total score and spirituality (r = 0.267, P < 0.001), and psychosocial support (r = 0.281, P < 0.001). No significant differences were found between HHI total score and respondents who saw themselves as a religious person and the family financial support. There was a significant difference in HHI total scores for a mother who has a disabled child (M = 32.92, SD = 2.75; t (235) = 2.00, P = 0.046) and mothers of a child who do not have any disability besides their cancer (M = 35.59, SD = 4.91). No significant differences were found in the HHI total score and different group of the child's diagnoses and the mother's age or/and child's age.

CONCLUSION

Mothers who have a child with cancer with better psychosocial and spiritual support showed a higher level of hope. A thorough knowledge of factors associated with hope in mothers caring for children suffering from cancer could provide a means to further advance the support delivered and the available resources given to the parents, especially the mothers.

Investigating psychological problems in caregiver of pediatrics with cancer: A systematic review

PURPOSE

Cancer is a type of chronic illness that causes many issues for patients and their caregivers, including a wide range of psychological problems. This study was conducted to determine the status and psychological problems of caregivers of pediatric patients with cancer who live in Iran.

METHODS

All articles from 2000 to March 2019 related to the psychological of caregivers and their child's cancer were included in the search. Domestic websites in Iran and international databases were searched. Keywords of the search included child, cancer, malignancy, care burden, stress, anxiety, depression, coping strategies, psychological hardiness, posttraumatic stress, parents, father, mother, and pediatric. The search, data extraction, quality assessment and screening were conducted independently by two researchers.

RESULTS

In the initial search, 345 articles were extracted regarding the psychological problems of caregivers. After final screening 15 articles were selected; from these four referred to care burden, four articles for coping skills, three articles for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and four articles for stress, anxiety, and depression among carers of children with cancer.

CONCLUSION

Considering the existence of psychological problems such as caregiver burden, PTSD, stress, anxiety, and depression in caregivers of children with cancer, it is necessary to provide nursing interventions for this group of parents; particularly interventions that provide the necessary ground for reducing psychological problems and improving caregivers' mental health.

Analysis of caregiver burden in palliative care: An integrated review

The inclusion of caregivers in a holistic care approach represents a basic principle in palliative care. However, many palliative care professionals have a lack of understanding of difficulties or unmet needs among caregivers. To enhance the quality of life of caregivers and the quality of care for patients, healthcare professionals should be better informed about the constructs of caregiver burden. The aim of this study is to synthesize the concept of caregiver burden in palliative care, providing implications for the caregivers and their support systems. This concept analysis study adopts the integrative review approach and the basic text analysis method (ie, word frequency). The PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, and PsycINFO databases are explored for eligible studies. From this literature search, 66 articles from 1998 to 2018 are located. After data collection is completed, the two authors independently evaluate the quality of studies published before 1 September 2018. The caregiver burden is then redefined with its attributes, antecedents, consequences, empirical referents, and facilitators. It is recommended that the multidimensional concept of caregiver burden in palliative care be measured by considering caregiver characteristics and the caregiving context.

Unmet supportive care needs and psychological distress among parents of children with cancer in Indonesia

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to investigate the needs and associating factors, psychological distress of parents, when taking care of children with cancer in Indonesia.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 parents of children with cancer from the pediatric ward of two hospitals in Indonesia. The parents were assessed using the Indonesian version of the Supportive Care Needs Survey for Partner and Caregiver (unmet needs) and the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (psychological distress). The factors associated with unmet needs were analyzed using hierarchical linear regression.

RESULTS

Among the surveyed parents, 83% had over 10 unmet needs. Among these unmet needs, need for information was the highest one. In the self-report measure using a clinical cut-off, 49% of the parents reported signs of anxiety, and 25% had signs of depression. Parents reporting clinically relevant levels of anxiety had more unmet needs than parents without clinically relevant anxiety. Having fewer children was correlated with higher work and social needs, and higher levels of education were correlated with more psychological needs. However, the children's clinical variables were not associated with the overall needs in the regression model.

CONCLUSIONS

Most parents of children with cancer reported a need for more information and reported signs of anxiety and depression. Parents with fewer children and higher levels of education were identified as a vulnerable population due to having greater needs. The result of this study can be used to improve supportive care for parents of children with cancer in hospital settings.

Going Forward Lightening the Shadow of Cancer: Experiences of Family Caregivers Toward Empowerment

This qualitative study was conducted to explore the empowerment experiences of family caregivers of patients with cancer. Empowerment consisted of 3 main categories: (1) seeking tranquility with the help of religious beliefs, (2) developing a positive attitude, and (3) restoring control over the situation. Results may help nurses for planning spiritual and supportive care.

Caregivers needing care: the unmet needs of the family caregivers of end-of-life cancer patients

PURPOSE

Family caregivers play a significant role in the care of cancer patients, especially in their end of life. Identifying and meeting the needs of these caregivers is essential to improving their quality of patient care. This study was conducted to identify the unmet needs of the caregivers of end-of-life cancer patients.

METHODS

A total of 18 semi-structured interviews were held with the family caregivers of end-of-life cancer patients using purposive sampling. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS

The analysis of the data led to the formation of three main categories, including social needs, cognitive needs, and psychological needs. The social needs category comprised of the subcategories of support for care, effective communication and financial support. The cognitive needs category comprised of educational support and support in decision-making. The psychological needs category comprised of support for psychological trauma, preparation to confront the reality of the death of a loved one, and support for mourning.

CONCLUSIONS

The family caregivers of end-of-life cancer patients take on the responsibility of many aspects of care for their patient, but many of their own needs remain unmet. The findings of this study can be used for healthcare policy planning and the development of palliative interventions, particularly for the family caregivers of end-of-life cancer patients.

Online Social Networks - Opportunities for Empowering Cancer Patients

Online social network technologies have become important to health and apply in most health care areas. Particularly in cancer care, because it is a disease which involves many social aspects, online social networks can be very useful. Use of online social networks provides a suitable platform for cancer patients and families to present and share information about their medical conditions, address their educational needs, support decision making, and help to coping with their disease and improve their own outcomes. Like any other new technologies, online social networks, along with many benefits, have some negative effects such as violation of privacy and publication of incorrect information. However, if these effects are managed properly, they can empower patients to manage cancer through changing behavioral patterns and enhancing the quality of cancer patients lives This paper explains some application of online social networks in the cancer patient care process. It also covers advantages and disadvantages of related technologies.

Levels of Conscience and Related Factors among Iranian Oncology Nurses

BACKGROUND

Having a conscience is one of the main pre-requisite of providing nursing care. The knowledge regarding levels of conscience among nurses in eastern countries is limited. So, the purpose of this study was to examine the level of conscience and its related factors among Iranian oncology nurses.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This descriptive-correlational study was conducted in 3 hospitals in Tabriz, Iran. Overall, 68 nurses were selected using a non-probability sampling method. The perceptions of conscience questionnaire was used to identify the levels of conscience among nurses. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 13.0.

RESULTS

The mean nurses' level of conscience scores was 72.7. In the authority and asset sub-scales nurses acquired higher scores. The mean of nurses' scores in burden and depending on culture sub-scales were the least. Also, there were no statistical relationship between some demographic characteristics of participants and their total score on the perceptions of conscience questionnaire.

CONCLUSIONS

According to study findings Iranian nurses had high levels of conscience. However, understanding all the factors that affect nurses' perception of conscience requires further studies.