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Supportive Care in Cancer
Published in: Supportive Care in Cancer 3/2021

01-03-2021 | Care | Original Article

Prevalence and correlates of unmet palliative care needs in dyads of Chinese patients with advanced cancer and their informal caregivers: a cross-sectional survey

Authors: Tao Wang, Alex Molassiotis, Jing-Yu Tan, Betty Pui Man Chung, Hou-Qiang Huang

Published in: Supportive Care in Cancer | Issue 3/2021

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Abstract

Objectives

To examine palliative care needs of advanced cancer patients and their informal caregivers and correlates of their needs within Chinese context.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional survey conducted in two study sites in Mainland China. Patients and caregivers were recruited in dyads. Patients completed the following questionnaires: Problems and Needs in Palliative Care-short version, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS), Medical Outcomes Study-Social Support Survey (MOS-SSS), Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Scale (Brief-COPE), and Quality-of-Life Questionnaire Core 15-Palliative Care Scale. Questionnaires for caregivers were as follows: Comprehensive Needs Assessment Tool in Cancer for Caregivers, HADS, ESAS, MOS-SSS, Brief-COPE, and Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer. All of the outcome variables were selected based on a conceptual framework of palliative care needs assessment.

Results

Four hundred nineteen patient-caregiver dyads completed this survey. Patients’ unmet palliative care needs were mainly related to financial (85.2%), informational (82.3%), physical (pain) (69.7%), and psychological (64.9%) domains. Caregivers’ commonly reported unmet needs mainly focused on the domains of healthcare staff (95.0%), information (92.1%), and hospital facilities and services (90.5%). Patients’ greater severity of symptom distress, presence of anxiety and/or depression, use of coping strategies particularly the less use of problem-focused coping, and caregivers’ poorer quality of life were identified as key negative predictors of the needs of both patients and caregivers (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

Both patients and caregivers had context-bounded palliative care needs. In addition to increasing the amount of external asistance, more emphasis should be placed on screening for physical and psychological distress, the use of coping strategies, and the well-being of caregivers to help identify those in need for more clinical attention and specific interventions.
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Metadata
Title
Prevalence and correlates of unmet palliative care needs in dyads of Chinese patients with advanced cancer and their informal caregivers: a cross-sectional survey
Authors
Tao Wang
Alex Molassiotis
Jing-Yu Tan
Betty Pui Man Chung
Hou-Qiang Huang
Publication date
01-03-2021
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Keywords
Care
Anxiety
Published in
Supportive Care in Cancer / Issue 3/2021
Print ISSN: 0941-4355
Electronic ISSN: 1433-7339
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05657-w

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