Approximately 1,500 people a day die of cancer. Most are cared for by an informal caregiver. The purpose of this study was to identify the unmet spiritual needs of informal caregivers and explore the relationships between the patient's symptom distress, caregivers' unmet needs, and caregivers' depressive symptomatology at the time of admission to hospice. The sample consisted of 110 caregivers of hospice home care patients with cancer. The Spiritual Needs Inventory and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale were administered to caregivers of newly admitted patients.
