Oncology

Objectives Family conflict has several adverse impacts on caregivers. Thus, there is significant value in determining the prevalence and predictors of family conflict, which can enable the health care provider to intervene if family conflict arises during end-of-life care. Accordingly, we aimed to explore the prevalence and predictors of conflict among the families of patients with advanced cancer who died in palliative care units.

Objective: To explore: (1) how haematological cancer survivors and their support persons perceive the overall performance of the support person; (2) disagreement between survivor and support person ratings; and (3) characteristics associated with support persons rating their performance poorly. Methods: This is a substudy of a larger project of Australian haematological cancer survivors and their support persons.

Background: Modern treatment for multiple myeloma (MM) has improved disease control and prolonged survival; thus, maintenance of quality of life (QoL) is considered a great concern for MM patients and their caregivers. The purpose of this study was to identify dyadic associations between stress appraisal and the QoL of patients with MM and their caregivers in Korea. Methods: A total of 102 MM patient‐caregiver dyads participated in this study. They independently reported their stress appraisal and QoL.

Objectives: This study will explore how help is constructed during and following radiotherapy for patients with cancer.

Methods: Grounded theory methods were used in the study to explore the way in which family members and friends constructed a role for themselves in relation to patients receiving radiotherapy. A total of 22 helpers were interviewed. Patients were being treated for a range of cancers including breast, prostate, colorectal, and head and neck.

Purpose: The transition out of acute cancer treatment has been identified as a time of stress and uncertainty for cancer survivors, but little is known about how caregivers fare during this period. In this paper, we discuss caregiving work up to and including transition from initial care and the needs of caregivers during transition and beyond.; Methods: We held four focus groups with breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer survivors who had completed treatment with intent to cure and two with caregivers for the same population.

Objective: Informal carers experience a variety of information and support needs when providing care to someone with cancer.

Objective: To optimize personalized medicine for patients with hematological malignancies (HM), we find that knowledge on patient preferences with regard to information provision and shared decision-making (SDM) is of the utmost importance.

Background: Prolonged grief disorder (PGD) and depression are recognized as distinct emotional-distress disorders for bereaved family caregivers. However, this distinction has been mostly validated in cross-sectional studies, neglecting the dynamic characteristics of bereaved caregivers' emotional distress. Objective: To validate the distinction between symptoms of PGD and depression across the first bereavement year for family caregivers of terminally ill cancer patients.

Objective: Breast cancer diagnosis and treatment negatively affect quality of life for survivors and their family caregivers. The stress process model has been useful for describing the cascade of social and psychological experiences that culminate in degraded quality of life for both survivors and their family caregivers. This study is designed to test theoretically specified predictors of negative psychosocial outcomes in a dyadic context.

Objective: Home care of advanced cancer patients often has adverse effects on physical and mental health of family caregivers. Little is known about the long-term effects of continuous caregiving on mental health as compared with the effects of bereavement. The objectives of this study were to describe the course of psychiatric morbidity in family caregivers over time, to identify the impact of the patients' death on caregivers, and to explore possible predictor variables for psychiatric morbidity.