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Patients and informal caregivers’ experiences of burden of treatment in lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research

Patients and informal caregivers’ experiences of burden of treatment in lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research
Patients and informal caregivers’ experiences of burden of treatment in lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research
Objective To identify, characterise and explain common and specific features of the experience of treatment burden in relation to patients living with lung cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and their informal caregivers.

Design Systematic review and interpretative synthesis of primary qualitative studies. Papers were analysed using constant comparison and directed qualitative content analysis.

Data sources CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsychINFO, Scopus and Web of Science searched from January 2006 to December 2015.

Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Primary qualitative studies in English where participants were patients with lung cancer or COPD and/or their informal caregivers, aged >18 years that contain descriptions of experiences of interacting with health or social care in Europe, North America and Australia.

Results We identified 127 articles with 1769 patients and 491 informal caregivers. Patients, informal caregivers and healthcare professionals (HCPs) acknowledged lung cancer’s existential threat. Managing treatment workload was a priority in this condition, characterised by a short illness trajectory. Treatment workload was generally well supported by an immediacy of access to healthcare systems and a clear treatment pathway. Conversely, patients, informal caregivers and HCPs typically did not recognise or understand COPD. Treatment workload was balanced with the demands of everyday life throughout a characteristically long illness trajectory. Consequently, treatment workload was complicated by difficulties of access to, and navigation of, healthcare systems, and a fragmented treatment pathway. In both conditions, patients’ capacity to manage workload was enhanced by the support of family and friends, peers and HCPs and diminished by illness/smoking-related stigma and social isolation.

Conclusion
This interpretative synthesis has affirmed significant differences in treatment workload between lung cancer and COPD. It has demonstrated the importance of the capacity patients have to manage their workload in both conditions. This suggests a workload which exceeds capacity may be a primary driver of treatment burden.

PROSPERO registration number CRD42016048191.
2044-6055
1-17
Lippiett, Katharine
35184a9f-cf3c-49cc-ae6b-7b92f6ead7ee
Richardson, Alison
3db30680-aa47-43a5-b54d-62d10ece17b7
Myall, Michelle
0604ba0f-75c2-4783-9afe-aa54bf81513f
Cummings, Amanda
7c5f6bd2-979b-456d-9368-8edd13c06691
May, Carl
17697f8d-98f6-40d3-9cc0-022f04009ae4
Lippiett, Katharine
35184a9f-cf3c-49cc-ae6b-7b92f6ead7ee
Richardson, Alison
3db30680-aa47-43a5-b54d-62d10ece17b7
Myall, Michelle
0604ba0f-75c2-4783-9afe-aa54bf81513f
Cummings, Amanda
7c5f6bd2-979b-456d-9368-8edd13c06691
May, Carl
17697f8d-98f6-40d3-9cc0-022f04009ae4

Lippiett, Katharine, Richardson, Alison, Myall, Michelle, Cummings, Amanda and May, Carl (2019) Patients and informal caregivers’ experiences of burden of treatment in lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research. BMJ Open, 9 (2), 1-17. (doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020515).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Objective To identify, characterise and explain common and specific features of the experience of treatment burden in relation to patients living with lung cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and their informal caregivers.

Design Systematic review and interpretative synthesis of primary qualitative studies. Papers were analysed using constant comparison and directed qualitative content analysis.

Data sources CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsychINFO, Scopus and Web of Science searched from January 2006 to December 2015.

Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Primary qualitative studies in English where participants were patients with lung cancer or COPD and/or their informal caregivers, aged >18 years that contain descriptions of experiences of interacting with health or social care in Europe, North America and Australia.

Results We identified 127 articles with 1769 patients and 491 informal caregivers. Patients, informal caregivers and healthcare professionals (HCPs) acknowledged lung cancer’s existential threat. Managing treatment workload was a priority in this condition, characterised by a short illness trajectory. Treatment workload was generally well supported by an immediacy of access to healthcare systems and a clear treatment pathway. Conversely, patients, informal caregivers and HCPs typically did not recognise or understand COPD. Treatment workload was balanced with the demands of everyday life throughout a characteristically long illness trajectory. Consequently, treatment workload was complicated by difficulties of access to, and navigation of, healthcare systems, and a fragmented treatment pathway. In both conditions, patients’ capacity to manage workload was enhanced by the support of family and friends, peers and HCPs and diminished by illness/smoking-related stigma and social isolation.

Conclusion
This interpretative synthesis has affirmed significant differences in treatment workload between lung cancer and COPD. It has demonstrated the importance of the capacity patients have to manage their workload in both conditions. This suggests a workload which exceeds capacity may be a primary driver of treatment burden.

PROSPERO registration number CRD42016048191.

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Patients and informal caregivers’ experiences of burden of treatment in lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 28 November 2018
Published date: 5 February 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 426672
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/426672
ISSN: 2044-6055
PURE UUID: f1941b58-b830-4978-9b9f-d8d682d62372
ORCID for Katharine Lippiett: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2626-498X
ORCID for Alison Richardson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3127-5755
ORCID for Michelle Myall: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8733-7412
ORCID for Amanda Cummings: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5743-2774
ORCID for Carl May: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0451-2690

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Date deposited: 10 Dec 2018 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 07:22

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Contributors

Author: Michelle Myall ORCID iD
Author: Amanda Cummings ORCID iD
Author: Carl May ORCID iD

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