A Critical Review of Supportive Interventions for Family Caregivers of Patients with Palliative-Stage Cancer

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The impact of supporting a dying family member has frequently been reported as extremely challenging. In addition, family members of dying cancer patients have consistently identified a need for additional guidance and support from health care professionals. Provision of high-quality palliative care services should include strategic support for families of patients confronted with a life-threatening diagnosis. To date, however, few published strategies clearly identify the most effective means of providing family support. The author seeks to provide a critical evaluation of past supportive interventions for family caregivers of dying cancer patients. The report confirms an urgent need for new supportive-care strategies for families to be tested. In addition, the review offers recommendations for designing and evaluating future family caregiver interventions. Psychoeducational interventions evaluated via randomized controlled trials are considered to be a priority.

Developing supportive care for family members of people with lung cancer: a feasibility study

“…There are some limitations to our study. Like others in the field [6,28,29], we encountered some issues with recruitment in that 43% of the family members of patients who gave consent subsequently declined to take part, some expressing the view that taking part might destabilise their already fragile coping mechanisms. Furthermore, in common with other studies, this was a predominantly female sample (92%).…”

Evaluation of a psycho-educational group programme for family caregivers in home-based palliative care

“…15 Caregiver experiences and needs have been well researched, but there is a dearth of evidence-based approaches aimed at meeting the supportive needs of palliative care families. [16][17][18][19] Group education programmes have been widely recommended as a valuable strategy to deliver support and information to palliative care families. 20 However, these programmes are currently underdeveloped, and those that exist have not been rigorously evaluated.…”

Meeting the Supportive Needs of Family Caregivers in Palliative Care: Challenges for Health Professionals

“…18 Family intervention research design recommendations have been made. [18][19][20][21][22] However, prior to the development and testing of new interventions to augment the care provided to palliative care families, the common challenges that currently confront health care professionals' capacity to provide optimal support need to be more explicit. Without this disclosure there is a danger that interventions may not be relevant within the practice setting and hence may fail to meet intended aims.…”

“…By acknowledging these barriers to supportive care, researchers and health care professionals can begin to design and implement interventions that are clinically relevant and more likely to be effective. 19 …”