Background: Cancer is today one of the most common public health diseases and the cause of around 9 million deaths each year. Cancer does not only affect the patient with the diagnosis, but also familymembers of the patient due to the occurrence of imbalance within the family system that the diseaseleads to. Family caregivers are thus affected by this imbalance and often take a great deal of responsibility for the care of the cancer patient. Aim: To describe family caregivers’ experiences of giving care to a patient with cancer. Method: General literature review with 10 articles being analyzed using content analysis. Results: Tree main categories emerged. Duty and increased burden, worsening health and need forsupport & information. Results show that family caregivers of cancer patients experience a range of emotional burdens, as well as feelings of inadequacy when caring for a patient with cancer. Conclusion: Family caregivers’ experiences of support and burdens can differ among each other oraffect their quality of life differently. The experiences may vary depending on factors such as type of cancer and stage, support structures, healthcare availability and financial resources within a country. There’s a need for more research on family caregivers’ experiences in relation to differences in those areas. Research in these areas could extend a nurse’s awareness, thus contributing to improved treatment and care.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:rkh-4501 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Mahdere, Mimmi |
| Publisher | Röda Korsets Högskola |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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