Longacre, M. L.

Background: Cancer patients commonly require assistance from a relative or friend, and many of these “family caregivers” are navigating employment while caring. Objectives: The purpose of this analysis was to understand the experience of employment while providing care to someone with cancer, including these caregivers’ roles and burden, adjustments made to employment, assistance provided by employers, and preferences for employment and financial support.

Practice recommendations and policies (e.g., CARE Act) emphasize identifying and training a family caregiver during a patient's hospitalization, but engagement of caregivers is not standard in the USA. To inform caregiver engagement, we highlight (1) the frequency of cancer patient hospitalizations as well as (2) the caregiving characteristics and perceptions of inclusion in care and receipt of training among caregivers for patients who had been hospitalized.