Does anybody support the supporters? Social support in the cancer patient-caregiver dyad

Abstract

A -study Design, B -Data Collection, C -statistical analysis, D -Data Interpretation, E -Manuscript Preparation, F -Literature search, G -Funds CollectionBackground. Cancer and its treatment enforce changes in patient functioning. the principal objective of each patient is to efficiently cope with the disease, i.e. to completely recover or at least to slow its progression. Under such circumstances, patients and their relatives require various forms of support: emotional, informational and instrumental. Objectives. the aim of the study was to determine the level and sources of support available for cancer patients and their close relatives, who deal with the latter on a daily basis. Material and methods. the cross-sectional self-inventory study, conducted at cancer centers in krakow and tarnow, included 193 pairs of cancer patients and their caregivers. the study was based on the berlin social support scales and a sociodemographic-clinical survey. Results. Cancer patients had more perceived and received social support than their caregivers. Patients identified more sources of available support than their caregivers. when the level of support was stratified according to the caregiver's relation with the patient, caregivers-partners and caregivers-children presented higher levels of perceived support than caregivers-siblings and caregivers-parents. Caregivers received less support than patients from medical personnel. Conclusions. the discrepancy between the level of social support among patient and their caregivers leads to further research on the patient-caregiver dyad, especially with regard to the consequences for the whole family's quality of life. In connection with a deficit of support for caregivers from oncologists, GP's may constitute a valuable source of support, especially emotional and informational. Key words: social support, cancer, patient, caregiver.

Perceived social support and the sense of coherence in patient–caregiver dyad versus acceptance of illness in cancer patients

“…The level of this support determines the SOC of caregivers which, as demonstrated above, is a key resource in coping with the disease within patient–caregiver dyad. The previous Polish study analysing the role of social support in cancer patients and their caregivers not only demonstrated that the former receive less support from a smaller number of sources; we also showed that compared to patients, caregivers receive less support of any type from medical personnel (Dębska et al., ). This implies that management of cancer patients should include also interventions addressed to their caregivers, and particular emphasis should be put on strengthening caregivers’ support networks, as well as on motivating patients to allow their caregivers to use these networks.…”

“…Consequently, caregivers should receive social support. Unfortunately, a large body of evidence implies that in fact they suffer from support deficits (Chen et al., ; Dębska, Pasek, & Wojtyna, ; Sklenarova et al., ). Also in our study, the level of perceived support in caregivers turned out to be lower than in cancer patients.…”

“…In this study, 50% of caregivers were spouses of cancer patients; the remaining proportion of caregivers were patients’ children, parents or siblings. The previous Polish studies demonstrated that the level of support received by caregivers depends on the degree of their relatedness to the patient, with the highest levels of support received by patients’ spouses (Dębska et al., ). This implies that also the role of coherence, interrelationships between variables included in the model and the power thereof, may vary depending on the type of patient–caregiver dyad.…”

Social Support in a Cancer Patient-Informal Caregiver Dyad: A Scoping Review

“…The study site was determined by the inclusion criteria of the research and can be categorised into two main types. The first type ( n = 7) included oncology departments that provided radiotherapy and clinical oncology/chemotherapy [ 10 , 23 , 26 , 31 ], hospitals, or oncology hospitals [ 25 , 27 , 28 ], where cancer patients treated with anticancer drugs were recruited. The second type consisted of wards ( n = 6), where patients with specific clinical diagnoses were hospitalised, such as gastric cancer [ 29 ], head and neck cancer [ 32 ], colorectal cancer [ 30 ], breast cancer [ 24 ] and genital cancer [ 33 , 34 ].…”

Psychometric characteristics and measurement invariance across genders of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) among Nigerian adolescents

“…A multinational study which examined the association between social support and mental wellbeing among adolescents reported that increased perception of social support from a caring family member or significant others negatively correlated with the severity of depressive symptoms (Cheng et al, 2014). Apart from the adolescent population, the importance and influence of social support have been described among diverse populations such as caregivers of patients with oncological disorders (Dębska, Pasek, & Wojtyna, 2017), individuals with sudden loss of auditory function (Hricová, 2018), patients receiving treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (Akintayo et al, 2018) and nursing students (Zarzycka, Ślusarska, Dyk, Bednarek, & Trojanowska, 2018).…”