Symptom distress, mental health status, enforced social dependency and health perceptions were measured in two groups of cancer patients, one receiving home care services (n = 49) and the other receiving no such services (n = 11). Data were obtained at hospital discharge and 3 months later. Patients receiving home care demonstrated statistically significant improvement on mental health and social dependency; patients not receiving home care did not improve on any variable. After controlling for baseline scores, the home care group had significantly higher mental health status at the second interview than the no home care group.

Cancer affects not only ill persons but also family members and close friends. An original study from which this report is derived used a longitudinal design to follow patients discharged from one of seven hospitals with one or more complex care problems requiring home care. A total of 233 patients with multiple solid tumors diagnoses and 103 care-givers were included in the original study. Interviews were conducted at discharge and at three and six months post-discharge. This report examined the responses of a subset of 34 subjects (17 patients and their care-givers) for whom patient and care-giver variables were complete on all three occasions. Findings indicate that these patients were being discharged from the hospital with acute care needs. By three and six months posthospitalization, patients' conditions stabilized or improved but their care-givers continued to report similar levels of burden. Patient psychosocial responses were strongly correlated with care-givers' financial impact, impact on schedule, and physical care-giving responsibility at three and six months. Results highlight the importance of developing interventions that reduce family care-givers' burden in providing post-hospital nursing care for patients with complex care requirements.

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