Posttraumatic Growth in Family Caregivers of Patients with Cancer

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine posttraumatic growth (PTG) in family caregivers of patients with cancer. Methods: Participants included 201 family caregivers of cancer patients who are treated at outpatient clinics and oncology wards of a university hospital and two general hospitals in Busan, Korea. The study instrument was the Korean version of the posttraumatic growth inventory (K-PTGI). Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t test, one-way ANOVA and Scheffe's test using the SPSS 21 for Windows. Results: The mean score of PTG was 3.10. The factor with the highest score was "Changes to self-perception" (3.15), while the one with the lowest was "Increase in spiritual interest" (2.88). There were significant differences in PTG, depending on age, religion, importance of religious life and perceived level of daily difficulties. Conclusion: Family caregivers also experience PTG when their loved ones are diagnosed with cancer. According to these findings, it is necessary to develop a spiritual nursing program to help family caregivers growth from the experience of attending patients with cancer.

Caregiving experiences of Korean family caregivers of cancer patients: An integrative literature review

“…Eleven quantitative studies 25,27,35,37,[40][41][42]44,45,47,49 had a low risk of bias (2+). Six quantitative studies 26,28,30,34,48,50 were characterized by a potentially high risk of bias (2−). Two qualitative studies 32,39 were appraised as high evidence, four 29,33,36,38 provided moderate evidence, while only one paper 31 was evaluated as a low level of evidence according to the CASP checklist.…”

“…All the articles reviewed used a descriptive, cross-sectional survey design, [25][26][27][28]30,34,35,37,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50] except for seven that used a qualitative interview method. 29,[31][32][33]36,38,39 Out of the 19 quantitative survey articles, only three articles for family caregivers of terminal cancer patients had a theoretical framework that included a conceptual framework for evaluating the quality of life, 27 studying subjective care burden, 40 and the Lazarus and Folkman model for caregiving burden.…”

“…The most widely used concepts in the studies reviewed were caregivers' quality of life, 27,34,41,43,45,46,48 burden, 25,28,37,40,42,[44][45][46]50 unmet needs, 25,34 emotional distress, 43 social support, 28,41,45 family function, 25,48 resilience, 30 positive adaptation, 27,48 and post-traumatic growth. 26 Regarding sample characteristics in studies, more than two-thirds of articles (n = 19) collected data from only family caregivers, 25,26,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34]36,[38][39][40]42,44,45,47,49,50 and seven articles collected data from patient-family member dyads. 27,…”

“…27,35,37,41,43,46,48 Cancer patients in almost half of the studies (n = 11) had terminal cancer. 25,27,29,30,35,[39][40][41][42]49,50 Fourteen articles included more than one type of cancer (eg, Gastric, liver, breast, or others) 25,26,28,29,[32][33][34][35]37,[44][45][46][47]50 and nine articles did not report patients' types of cancer. 26,27,30,39,[41][42][43]48,49 The majority of care-…”

A Review of Trend of Nursing Theories related Caregivers in Korea

“…PTG [ 26 ] refers to the experience of continuous and gradual positive changes through long-term caregiving. In case of Korean caregivers, previous study found the score of PTG to be higher in Korea than in Western countries and attributed this to a Korean emphasis on the quality of care for cancer survivors and for their family members, reflecting the family-centered caring culture in Korean society [ 27 ]. These results draw further support for the Illness Constellation Model [ 25 ] and provide further proofs that the caregiving experience and caregivers’ QOL can differ depending on the attributes of the patients–caregivers relationship.…”