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Cited by 77Palliative Care and End-of-Life IssuesPalliative and Oncologic CareGrief, Bereavement, and Mental Health

Supportive care needs and service use during palliative care in family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer: a prospective longitudinal study

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Ullrich, Anneke, Marx, Gabriella, Bergelt, Corinna, Benze, Gesine, Zhang, Youyou, Wowretzko, Feline, Heine, Julia, Dickel, Lisa-Marie +3 more·2021·Supportive Care in Cancer
DOI 10.1007/s00520-020-05565-zPMC PMC7843549
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Abstract

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the supportive care needs of family caregivers (FCs) of advanced cancer patients and their support service use at the beginning of specialist inpatient palliative care (SIPC), near the patient's death, and during bereavement. METHODS: FCs reported their needs using the Family Inventory of Needs (FIN), along with their utilization of psychosocial and bereavement support services at the beginning (N = 232) and 6-9 months after SIPC (N = 160). RESULTS: At the beginning of SIPC, mean of 16.9 of 20 needs were reported to be highly important, and 12.2 were reported to be met. At the time of the patient's death, 16.8 needs were highly important, and 13.8 were met. At both time points, the highest ranked need was related to information about changes in the patient's condition (100% vs. 99%), and the most frequently unmet need was related to feeling hope (73% vs. 71%). Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed a low education level to be consistently related to a greater number of highly important needs. Higher satisfaction with care and better social support was related to a greater number of met needs. Twenty-five percent of FCs had accessed at least one psychosocial support service prior to SIPC, and 30% had done so during bereavement. Among non-users of support services, > 75% indicated sufficient informal support as a barrier to service use. CONCLUSIONS: The findings offer a useful guide for adequately addressing FCs' needs in an effort to optimize FC support. However, only a subgroup of the FCs used support services. Better information and provision of tailored services might improve FCs' situations in the future.

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  • Similar findings were reported across several other recent studies from the West.

    “Similar findings were also reported across several other recent studies from the West [15-18].”

    From Exploring the Unmet Needs of Cancer Caregivers in India: A Cross-Sectional Survey (2024) · cites this paper as [17]

    The Results section reports findings on family caregivers’ supportive-care needs and use of support services, so this paper is a relevant recent study. The citing sentence does not specify which findings are ‘similar,’ and this source alone cannot establish that comparison or substantiate the other studies in the citation group. (LLM, conf=0.72)

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Authors
Ullrich, A., Marx, G., Bergelt, C., Benze, G., Zhang, Y., Wowretzko, F., Heine, J., Dickel, L.-M., Nauck, F., Bokemeyer, C., & Oechsle, K.
Affiliations
  • University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (DE)
  • Universitätsmedizin Göttingen (DE)
Corresponding author
Ullrich, Anneke
ORCID
Venue
Supportive Care in Cancer
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2020-07-06
Volume
29
Issue
3
Pages
1303-1315
ISSN
  • 0941-4355 (ISSN-L)
  • 1433-7339
DOI
10.1007/s00520-020-05565-z
PMC
PMC7843549
OpenAlex
W3038596805
Cited by
77
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 4
FWCI
5.25
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Supportive Care in Cancer (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Informationszentrum Lebenswissenschaften (ZB MED) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • GoeScholar The Publication Server of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Cancer Society of Hamburg, Germany (no grant number assigned)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Palliative and Oncologic Care
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
Keywords
family caregivers, advanced cancer, palliative care, supportive care needs, psychosocial support, bereavement support, service utilization, informal support, caregiver satisfaction, social support, educational attainment
MeSH terms
Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Palliative Care, Prospective Studies, Social Support, Terminal Care, Caregivers

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