Background In Ghana, prostate cancer is more prevalent than all other cancers, with a mortality rate of 75% partly due to late presentation to the health care facilities. Limited health services provision across the country and shortages of skilled nurses place a significant demand on family caregivers who are often ill-equipped for the caring role, resulting in many challenges. As they are expected to provide complex care at home with little resources, information, and support, the healthcare system rarely addresses the challenging needs of these family caregivers. This study explored the challenges encountered by family caregivers of people with prostate cancer. Methods We conducted interviews using a descriptive phenomenological approach. Twelve family caregivers of prostate cancer patients were selected through a purposive sampling technique at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using Colaizzi’s (1978) data analysis approach. Results Three main themes were identified as critical challenges: education and training needs, resources and caregiver-nurse relationship issues. Under the three main themes emerged seven sub-themes that collectively hindered the family caregiver’s ability to meet the care demands. Sub-themes that emerged were; lack of preparedness towards the caring role, lack of knowledge about condition/ treatment, misconception about the condition, lack of accommodation facilities, financial constraints, poor communication, and poor staff attitude. Conclusion Caregiving is associated with significant challenges that hinder the family caregiver’s ability to care for the patient effectively, further diminishing the caregiver’s quality of life and patient care. Therefore, healthcare professionals, especially nurses, should consider these challenges family caregivers face and take measures to obviate them through education, preparation and support.

Introduction Prostate cancer is a significant public health burden and a significant cause of morbidity and mortality among men worldwide. This study, therefore, explored how caring affects the physical health of family caregivers of prostate cancer patients. Method The study adopted a descriptive phenomenological method. Twelve participants were recruited using the purposive sampling technique. A semi-structured face to face, in-depth interviews were conducted with family caregivers of patients living with prostate cancer. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, and the data were analysed using Colaizzi’s phenomenological approach. Findings The family caregiver’s experience with the physical impact associated with caregiving uncovered two significant themes with six sub-themes. “Rest and Sleep” emerged as the first central theme, with sleeplessness, fatigue, pain, and worsening pre-existing conditions as the sub-themes. The second main theme was ‘Nutrition’ with altered eating patterns and weight loss emerging as sub-themes. Conclusion The study suggests that family caregivers of patients treated for prostate cancer may struggle with physical consequences associated with the caregiving role, which impacts their physical health. It is of great importance, especially for nurses, to come up with measures to minimise these adverse physical effects on the family caregivers through formal education programmes and training on how to care for these patients at home.

Aim This study explored the psychosocial experience of caregiving on the family caregiver of patients with prostate cancer in the Cape Coast metropolis of Ghana. Design A descriptive phenomenological study was conducted through in‐depth face‐to‐face semi‐structured interviews. Twelve family caregivers of prostate cancer patients were selected through purposive sampling. Interviews were conducted until data saturation. All interviews were taped, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. Results The family caregiver's psychosocial experience associated with caregiving uncovered two significant themes with 13 sub‐themes. ‘Psychological impact’ emerged as the first central theme, with anxiety, care as an obligation and feelings of inadequacy, hopelessness, uncertainty, denial and concealment as the sub‐themes. The second central theme was ‘Social impact’ with sexual concerns, role adjustment, loss of livelihood, turmoil and reduced leisure activities emerging as sub‐themes. Conclusion The findings demonstrated that caring significantly impacts the psychological and social well‐being of the caregivers of prostate cancer patients. Therefore, there is a need for holistic assessment to include the psychosocial well‐being of family caregivers to improve quality of life. Therefore, psychiatric nurses support family caregivers through education and psychosocial interventions to improve their quality of life and enable them to care for their loved ones more effectively.

BackgroundIn Ghana, prostate cancer is more prevalent than all other cancers with a mortality rate of 75% partly as a result of late presentation to the health care facilities. Limited health services provision across the country and shortages of skilled nurses place a significant demand on family caregivers who are often ill-equipped for the caring role resulting in a lot of challenges. As they are expected to provide complex care at home with little resources, information, and support, yet, the healthcare system rarely addresses the challenging needs of these family caregivers. This study explored the Challenges encountered by family caregivers of people with prostate cancer. MethodsA qualitative phenomenological descriptive study was adapted using a semi-structured interview guide to conduct in-depth interviews with twelve (12) family caregivers of prostate cancer patients selected through a purposive sampling technique at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed thematically.Findings The significant statement extracted from verbatim transcripts (analysis of transcripts) produced three main themes as key challenges relating to; Education and Training needs, Resources and Caregiver-nurse relationship issues with seven (7) sub-themes that collectively hindered the family caregivers ability to effectively perform their caring role. Thus making it difficult for them to meet the care demands. Sub-themes that emerged were; lack of preparedness towards the caring role, lack of knowledge about condition/ treatment, misconception about the condition, lack of accommodation facilities, financial constraints, poor communication and poor staff attitude.ConclusionCaregiving is associated with significant challenges that hinder family caregiver’s ability to effectively care for the patient; further diminishing caregiver’s quality of life and quality of patient care. Healthcare professionals especially nurses should, therefore, consider these challenges faced by family caregivers and put in measures to obviate them through education, preparation, and support.