Psychosocial and financial impact on family of lung cancer patients: A cancer research center experience

Abstract

Background: Caregivers play a critical role and most affected peoples in the oncology setting and having an understanding of this may assist health care professionals in supporting them with these tasks, and targeting services towards those most in need. Cancer is one of the most common health conditions to receive informal caregiving, with the majority of caregivers reporting taking on this role because of family responsibility and there being little choice or no one else to provide the care. Methods: Our article aims to provide an overview of the issues faced by caregivers of 340 people diagnosed with advanced stage lung cancer, with a particular emphasis on the psychosocial and economic impact of caring. Results: The caregiver participants ranged in age from 18 to 90 years (mean age 55 years), and most (69.11%) were women. The majority (66%) were spouses, and others were offspring (17%), siblings (7%), parents (4%), or friends (3%). The types of support included was emotional, instrumental (eg. information obtaining medical services), tangible (eg. household chores) and medical (eg. administering medication). The physical problems included were fatigue, sleep disturbances, loss of weight and appetite. Self-reported measures of psychological morbidity (usually anxiety or depression) suggested 20 to 30% clinically significant distress. Almost 65% reported difficulty in managing social or leisure activities. Between 14% and 30% stated a need for more financial help and 54% of caregivers of working age (<65 years) had difficulties in managing their regular employment in the last months of terminal care to fulfill health costs including travel, hospital stays, drugs and supportive care. Since most of the Indian population is from a rural background, 36% patients ended up with a loss of follow-up. Conclusions: Having a better understanding of the critical and broad roles that caregivers play in the oncology setting and the impact of these on their health and wellbeing may assist health care professionals in supporting caregivers with these tasks and targeting services and interventions toward those most in need.