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‘You can't say, “what about me?” I'm not the one with cancer’: information and support needs of relatives

‘You can't say, “what about me?” I'm not the one with cancer’: information and support needs of relatives
‘You can't say, “what about me?” I'm not the one with cancer’: information and support needs of relatives
Objective: the aims of this study were to explore relatives' experiences of talking about cancer within the family and to identify their information and support needs.

Method: a cross-sectional in-depth interview study with relatives and partners (n?=?22) of cancer patients recruited through community settings was conducted. A thematic approach was used for analysis.

Results: information sharing and communication within families operated within a context of cancer-related uncertainty. Discussion about cancer was generally viewed as beneficial, but relatives faced dilemmas, which inhibited information exchange. Participants often devised strategies to manage the challenges faced to fulfil their needs for information and support. This was deemed important as talking about cancer allowed relatives to support patients' preferences for care, deal with practical demands and come to terms with difficult issues. Lack of information was perceived to affect the quality of care participants could provide.

Conclusion: participants did not always want to know everything about the patient's illness, suggesting the importance of tailoring information to individual needs. Offering a range of different kinds of support directly to relatives may improve patient care and emotional well-being
705-711
Foster, Claire
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Myall, Michelle
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Scott, Isobel
50203f3f-aefc-4f75-b0b7-6261983bfb43
Sayers, Mary
f4b3eb90-b7f9-458b-a72e-9f7f5788d470
Brindle, Lucy
17158264-2a99-4786-afc0-30990240436c
Cotterell, Phil
087c1b39-3519-432d-a3ad-7502a954955a
Addington-Hall, Julia
87560cc4-7562-4f9b-b908-81f3b603fdd8
Hopkinson, Jane
67871a3a-e0b1-405d-aaff-2823a47ac220
Payne, Sheila
d7c97f41-ec69-4157-9339-ca07c521fbcc
Robinson, Judith
b0906d14-b9f2-412e-88a9-d5d867c47c9b
Foster, Claire
00786ac1-bd47-4aeb-a0e2-40e058695b73
Myall, Michelle
0604ba0f-75c2-4783-9afe-aa54bf81513f
Scott, Isobel
50203f3f-aefc-4f75-b0b7-6261983bfb43
Sayers, Mary
f4b3eb90-b7f9-458b-a72e-9f7f5788d470
Brindle, Lucy
17158264-2a99-4786-afc0-30990240436c
Cotterell, Phil
087c1b39-3519-432d-a3ad-7502a954955a
Addington-Hall, Julia
87560cc4-7562-4f9b-b908-81f3b603fdd8
Hopkinson, Jane
67871a3a-e0b1-405d-aaff-2823a47ac220
Payne, Sheila
d7c97f41-ec69-4157-9339-ca07c521fbcc
Robinson, Judith
b0906d14-b9f2-412e-88a9-d5d867c47c9b

Foster, Claire, Myall, Michelle, Scott, Isobel, Sayers, Mary, Brindle, Lucy, Cotterell, Phil, Addington-Hall, Julia, Hopkinson, Jane, Payne, Sheila and Robinson, Judith (2015) ‘You can't say, “what about me?” I'm not the one with cancer’: information and support needs of relatives. Psycho-Oncology, 24 (6), 705-711. (doi:10.1002/pon.3716). (PMID:25345885)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Objective: the aims of this study were to explore relatives' experiences of talking about cancer within the family and to identify their information and support needs.

Method: a cross-sectional in-depth interview study with relatives and partners (n?=?22) of cancer patients recruited through community settings was conducted. A thematic approach was used for analysis.

Results: information sharing and communication within families operated within a context of cancer-related uncertainty. Discussion about cancer was generally viewed as beneficial, but relatives faced dilemmas, which inhibited information exchange. Participants often devised strategies to manage the challenges faced to fulfil their needs for information and support. This was deemed important as talking about cancer allowed relatives to support patients' preferences for care, deal with practical demands and come to terms with difficult issues. Lack of information was perceived to affect the quality of care participants could provide.

Conclusion: participants did not always want to know everything about the patient's illness, suggesting the importance of tailoring information to individual needs. Offering a range of different kinds of support directly to relatives may improve patient care and emotional well-being

Text
Supporting relatives paper_FINAL_7March2014 revised 24 June 2014 re-revised Oct 2014 FINAL.doc - Other
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Accepted/In Press date: 6 October 2014
e-pub ahead of print date: 24 October 2014
Published date: June 2015
Organisations: Faculty of Health Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 377761
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/377761
PURE UUID: d42b152a-a0d5-4f22-9071-b521d7c77d48
ORCID for Claire Foster: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4703-8378
ORCID for Michelle Myall: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8733-7412
ORCID for Lucy Brindle: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8933-3754

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Date deposited: 18 Jun 2015 10:40
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:25

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Contributors

Author: Claire Foster ORCID iD
Author: Michelle Myall ORCID iD
Author: Isobel Scott
Author: Mary Sayers
Author: Lucy Brindle ORCID iD
Author: Phil Cotterell
Author: Jane Hopkinson
Author: Sheila Payne
Author: Judith Robinson

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