Incurable cancer

Background: Although family caregivers (FCs) play an important role in the care provided to incurable cancer patients in our region, little is known about the burden they experience. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of caregiver burden (CB) among FCs of incurable cancer patients in two Eastern Mediterranean countries and to identify factors that may be associated with significant CB. Methods: The study included 218 FCs, 165 from Egypt and 53 from Saudi Arabia.

Background: The treatment-related decision-making process is a highly emotional time for parents of children with incurable cancer, and they tend to continue the cancer-directed treatment even when they realize that there is no cure for their child. Objective: To evaluate whether parents involved in different treatment decisions regretted their treatment decision after their child's death. Methods: We collected prospective data from 418 parents of children who died of incurable cancer after receiving cancer care at 1 of 4 hospitals.

Purpose: Caregiver, relational, and patient factors have been associated with the health of family members and friends providing care to patients with early-stage cancer. Little research has examined whether findings extend to family caregivers of patients with incurable cancer, who experience unique and substantial caregiving burdens. We examined correlates of mental and physical health among caregivers of patients with newly-diagnosed incurable lung or non-colorectal gastrointestinal cancer.

Background: Anxiety and depression are common among patients with acute illness and their families. In oncology, psychosocial services addressing these symptoms are increasingly part of regular practice. Less is known about psychiatric distress among patients with acute neurological injury (ANI) and their family caregivers. To highlight this inequity in psychosocial intervention across medical services, we compared anxiety and depressive symptomatology shortly following diagnosis among patients facing incurable cancer or ANI and their family caregivers.