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Caregiver well-being associated with perceived quality of care for patients with lung, colorectal cancers
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The well-being of relatives and friends who provided unpaid cancer care was associated with the perceived quality of care for patients with lung or colorectal cancers, according to data from a study published in Journal of Clinical Oncology.
“Predictors of less-than-excellent perceived quality of care among survivors of cancer include poor psychosocial factors — that is, quality of life — unmet treatment needs and low physician trust. Qualitative work also highlights the importance of patient–provider communication in perceived quality of care,” Kristin Litzelman, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and colleagues wrote. “Recent research and theory have also shown that caregiver and patient well-being are intertwined, which further highlights the importance of this role; therefore, caregiver well-being may also be related to patient clinical outcomes, such as perceived quality of care.”
Litzelman and colleagues gathered data from the Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance (CanCORS) consortium. Caregivers of patients with lung or colorectal cancer enrolled in CanCORS were nominated to fill out a caregiving survey (n = 689). Caregivers and patients reported their own sociodemographic, psychosocial and caregiving data, and disease characteristics were taken from the CanCORS database.
Most patients were aged at least 65 years and were male. Most were non-Hispanic white (76%) and had an income of less than $40,000 per year (68%).
Sixty-eight percent were married or partnered, 78% were unemployed or retired, and 76% had public insurance. Slightly more than half (51%) had lung cancer, and roughly half (48%) were diagnosed with either cancer at stage II or stage III.
The researchers reported a much greater variability in the age of informal caregivers, more than one quarter of whom were aged 20 to 50 years. Another 20% were older than 70 years. The majority (80%) were female, white (70%), and married or partnered (80%). More than half were unemployed.
Caregivers also had lower incomes than patients: 29% made less than $12,000 per year. Most (62%) were married or partnered with the patient, and 55% provided “nearly all” of the patient’s care. More than 50% of the caregivers provided more than 10 hours of care per week, and 70% lived with the patient.
Patients whose caregivers reported higher levels of depressive symptoms were more likely to report poor or fair quality of care (OR = 1.06; 95% CI, 1.01-1.13). Patients whose caregivers rated their own health as fair or poor were almost four times more likely to report poor quality of care (OR = 3.76; 95% CI, 1.76-9.55).
“Caregiver depressive symptoms and self-rated health were associated with patients’ reports of poor quality of care,” Litzelman and colleagues wrote. “Engaging informal cancer caregivers as part of the care team and conducting ongoing risk stratification screening and intervention to optimize their health may improve patient-reported outcomes and quality of care.” – by Andy Polhamus
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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