The experiences of older caregivers of cancer patients following hospital discharge
Open accessAbstract
Purpose This study addressed the experiences of older caregivers of cancer patients in the 2 weeks following a hospital discharge. It sought to understand the challenges they face in providing supportive care to patients at home.Methods Qualitative descriptive interviews with a narrative approach were conducted with each caregiver at 1 and 2 weeks following the patient's discharge from the hospital. A thematic analysis approach was used to identify the themes that emerged from the caregiver interviews.Results Caregivers were primarily Caucasian (77%), were mostly 68 years of age or older (62%), and were primarily caring for a spouse (69%). Three key themes emerged from the qualitative analysis: caregiver and patient wellness are connected, caregivers' struggle with control issues, and challenges in communication with health professionals.Conclusions These findings highlight psychosocial changes that caregivers experience over the 2-week time period following hospital discharge. Implications include the need to identify interventions to better prepare caregivers for the post-discharge period.
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Caregivers of cancer surgery patients experience significant distress and deterioration in their overall well-being.
“Caregivers, including family and friends, endure significant distress as they witness their care recipient struggle with a cancer diagnosis and the decision to undergo surgery [8, 9].”
From Pilot study of a telehealth perioperative physical activity intervention for older adults with cancer and their caregivers (2020) · cites this paper as [10]
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- Authors
- Schwartz, A. J., Riedel, R. F., LeBlanc, T. W., Desai, D., Jenkins, C., Mahoney, E., Humphreys, J., & Hendrix, C. C.
- Affiliations
- East Carolina University (US)
- Duke University (US)
- Duke University Hospital (US)
- Boston College (US)
- Corresponding author
- Schwartz, Abby J.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Supportive Care in Cancer
- Published
- 2018-07-19
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 609-616
- ISSN
- 0941-4355 (ISSN-L)
- 1433-7339
- PMC
- PMC6326889
- OpenAlex
- W2884596712
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 2.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Supportive Care in Cancer (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (T32AG000029)
- The Reed Foundation, Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Nursing care and research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving
- Keywords
- older caregivers, cancer patients, hospital discharge, home care, caregiver experiences, caregiver well-being, health worker communication, spousal caregivers, psychosocial changes
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Neoplasms, Patient Discharge, Caregivers, Qualitative Research
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