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Distressed family caregivers of lung cancer patients: an examination of psychosocial and practical challenges

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Abstract

Purpose

Lung cancer and its treatment impose many demands on family caregivers, which may increase their risk for distress. However, little research has documented aspects of the caregiving experience that are especially challenging for distressed caregivers of lung cancer patients. This study aimed to explore caregivers’ key challenges in coping with their family member’s lung cancer.

Methods

Single, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 distressed family caregivers of lung cancer patients.

Results

Caregivers described three key challenges in coping with their family member’s lung cancer. The most common challenge, identified by 38 % of caregivers, was a profound sense of uncertainty regarding the future as they attempted to understand the patient’s prognosis and potential for functional decline. Another key challenge, identified by 33 % of caregivers, involved time-consuming efforts to manage the patient’s emotional reactions to the illness. Other caregivers (14 %) characterized practical tasks, such as coordinating the patient’s medical care, as their greatest challenge.

Conclusions

Results suggest that clinical efforts are needed to assist distressed caregivers in providing practical and emotional support to the patient and attending to their own emotional needs.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grant no. R03CA139862 from the National Cancer Institute. CM was supported by F32CA130600 from the National Cancer Institute and KL2 RR025760 (A. Shekhar, PI) from the National Center for Research Resources. The authors would like to thank the study participants, the thoracic oncology team at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Elyse Shuk and Scarlett Ho for their assistance.

Conflict of interest

The authors do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose. The authors have full control of all primary data and agree to allow the journal to review their data if requested.

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This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.

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Correspondence to Catherine E. Mosher.

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Mosher, C.E., Jaynes, H.A., Hanna, N. et al. Distressed family caregivers of lung cancer patients: an examination of psychosocial and practical challenges. Support Care Cancer 21, 431–437 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-012-1532-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-012-1532-6

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