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Cited by 34Nursing care and researchCancer survivorship and careFamily Support in Illness

Profiles of caregivers most at risk of having unmet supportive care needs: Recommendations for healthcare professionals in oncology

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Baudry, Anne-Sophie, Vanlemmens, Laurence, Anota, Amelie, Cortot, Alexis, Piessen, Guillaume, Christophe, Veronique·2019·European Journal of Oncology Nursing
DOI 10.1016/j.ejon.2019.09.010
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Abstract

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify profiles of caregivers to cancer patients at higher risk of having at least one moderately or highly unmet supportive care need based on 1) relevant socio-demographic (e.g. age, gender) and clinical (e.g. type of cancer, phase of the cancer pathway) variables highlighted in the literature and easily identifiable in routine, and 2) caregivers' anxiety and depression symptoms. METHOD: Three hundred and sixty-four main caregivers completed a questionnaire assessing their supportive care needs (SCNS-P&C-F) and anxiety and depression symptoms (HADS) during the treatment or follow-up stage of patients with digestive, breast, or lung cancer. Decision trees were used to identify profiles of caregivers with the Conditional inference Tree (CTree) technique. RESULTS: In our study, only the combination of three main variables was important to predict the risk of unmet supportive care needs of caregivers: anxiety and/or depression symptoms, the age of caregivers or patients, and the presence/absence of metastases. Emotional distress has the greatest impact, exceeding that of the socio-demographic and clinical variables considered in this study. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows the importance of considering a set of variables and their combinations rather than evaluating their effects separately. Routinely assessing the anxiety and depression symptoms of caregivers using the HADS could improve the screening of caregivers at higher risk of unmet supportive care needs based on socio-demographic and clinical variables only. This study provides recommendations on how to identify caregivers at risk of unmet needs, in the context of an inability to support all caregivers.

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  • Several studies indicate the prevalence of mental disorders in cancer patients' caregivers that interfere with their self-care.

    “Several studies indicate the prevalence of mental disorders in cancer patients’ caregivers that interfere with their self-care7,8.”

    From Anxiety, depression, and quality of life of caregivers of palliative care patients with cancer (2025) · cites this paper as [7]

    The Introduction reports that studies found substantial rates of anxiety and depression symptoms among cancer caregivers. The discussion says those symptoms may prevent caregivers from seeking supportive care, but it does not establish that diagnosed mental disorders interfere with self-care as a fact. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • 15 studies described caregivers as mostly spouses or daughters/sons of patients with cancer, usually sharing the same home.

    “As for family bonds, 15 studies described these caregivers as being mostly spouses or daughters/sons of the patients with cancer, usually sharing the same home [22,23,25,26,27,28,30,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39].”

    From Quality of Life in Caregivers of Cancer Patients: A Literature Review (2023) · cites this paper as [33]

    The Participants section (page not supplied) reports that 280 of 364 caregivers (76.92%) were patients’ spouses, supporting the family-bond description for this study. Our copy does not establish that caregivers usually shared the patient’s home or that daughters and sons were a predominant group. This single study also does not substantiate the citing paper’s count of 15 studies. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Most caregivers of adults with cancer are between 45 and 65 years old (around 50).

    “most of the studies set the interval between ages 45–65 [32,33,34,35,36,37,38,40,41,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,54,55,56].”

    From Quality of Life in Caregivers of Cancer Patients: A Literature Review (2023) · cites this paper as [33]

    The Participants section reports a mean caregiver age of 58.05 years in this study, which falls within 45–65. It gives a range of 19–87 years, however, and does not establish that most caregivers were aged 45–65. This single study also cannot establish what most studies report. (LLM, conf=0.83)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • 26 studies alluded to emotional and psychological problems suffered by caregivers, highlighting anxiety, depression, feelings of grief and distress, and high levels of stress.

    “At an emotional level, 26 studies [22,23,25,26,27,28,29,30,33,34,35,36,38,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52] alluded to the emotional and psychological problems suffered by caregivers, highlighting anxiety, depression, feelings of grief and distress, and high levels of stress.”

    From Quality of Life in Caregivers of Cancer Patients: A Literature Review (2023) · cites this paper as [33]

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Research works printed but not linked: 15

  1. Balfe, M., O'Brien, K., Timmons, A., Butow, P., O' Sullivan, E., Gooberman-Hill, R., Sharp, L., 2016. The unmet supportive care needs of long-term head and neck cancer caregivers in the extended survivorship period. J. Clin. Nurs. 25, 1576-1586. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.13140 · DOI
  2. Baudry, A.-S., Anota, A., Bonnetain, F., Mariette, C., Christophe, V., 2019. Psychometric validation of the French version of the Supportive Care Needs Survey for Partners and Caregivers of cancer patients. Eur. J. Cancer Care (Engl.) 28, e12896. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecc.12896 · DOI
  3. Baudry, A.-S., Lelorain, S., Mahieuxe, M., Christophe, V., 2018. Impact of emotional competence on supportive care needs, anxiety and depression symptoms of cancer patients: a multiple mediation model. Support. Care Cancer 26, 223-230. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3838-x · DOI
  4. Girgis, A., Lambert, S., Johnson, C., Waller, A., Currow, D., 2013a. Physical, Psychosocial, Relationship, and Economic Burden of Caring for People With Cancer: A Review. J. Oncol. Pract. 9, 197-202.
  5. Girgis, A., Lambert, S., Lecathelinais, C., 2011. The supportive care needs survey for partners and caregivers of cancer survivors: development and psychometric evaluation. Psychooncology. 20, 387-393. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.1740 · DOI
  6. Given, B.A., Given, C.W., Sherwood, P.R., 2012. Family and caregiver needs over the course of the cancer trajectory. J. Support. Oncol. 10, 57-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.suponc.2011.10.003 · DOI
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  8. Lambert, S., Hulbert-Williams, N., Belzile, E., Ciampi, A., Girgis, A., 2018. Beyond using composite measures to analyze the effect of unmet supportive care needs on caregivers' anxiety and depression. Psychooncology. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.4696 · DOI · Paper page
  9. Lemon, S.C., Roy, J., Clark, M.A., Friedmann, P.D., Rakowski, W., 2003. Classification and regression tree analysis in public health: Methodological review and comparison with logistic regression. Ann. Behav. Med. 26, 172-181. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324796ABM2603_02 · DOI
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Authors
Baudry, A.-S., Vanlemmens, L., Anota, A., Cortot, A., Piessen, G., & Christophe, V.
Affiliations
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • Centre Oscar Lambret (FR)
Corresponding author
  • Baudry, Anne-Sophie
  • Vanlemmens, Laurence
  • Cortot, Alexis
  • Piessen, Guillaume
ORCID
Venue
European Journal of Oncology Nursing
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2019-12
Volume
43
Pages
101669
ISSN
1462-3889 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.ejon.2019.09.010
OpenAlex
W2978515989
Cited by
34
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2
FWCI
6.50
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • European Journal of Oncology Nursing (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
  • LillOA (Université de Lille (University Of Lille)) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
Funders
  • Ligue Contre le Cancer (INCa-DGOS Inserm 6041)
  • Institut National Du Cancer
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Nursing care and research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Family Support in Illness
Keywords
caregiver burden, unmet supportive care needs, cancer caregivers, caregiver anxiety, caregiver depression, emotional distress, risk profile, decision tree, conditional inference trees, gastrointestinal cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, metastasis, caregiver screening, oncology nursing
MeSH terms
Adult, Aged, Anxiety, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Neoplasms, Surveys and Questionnaires, Social Support, Caregivers, Needs Assessment

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