Streck, Brennan P.

Objective: Caregivers for patients with cancer have an integral role in maintaining patients' health. Although patients and caregivers experience the impact of cancer individually, studies suggest their health is interdependent. The objective of this review was to synthesize the literature on interdependent physical and psychological morbidity in patient-caregiver dyads published since 2016.

There are more than 43 million family caregivers in the United States. In studies of family caregivers and receivers, evidence suggests that family caregiver-receiver mutuality is linked to health. Lack of a clear definition of family caregiver-receiver mutuality is an obstacle that prevents scientific progress and effective operationalization of the concept. To address this issue, the authors applied Walker and Avant's method for concept analysis and clarified the concept of family caregiver-receiver mutuality.