From theory to practice - establishing an oncology family caregiver support process

Over the past 25 years, a growing body of literature has shown oncology family caregivers experience as much, if not more, stress than the oncology patient. This research has demonstrated the need to establish programs to support these family caregivers.

To establish a proactive oncology family caregiver support process to assist family caregivers during the cancer patient's treatment regimen.

Based on the Iowa Model of Evidence-Based Practice, an evidence-based practice process was established in a large, downtown hospital's oncology infusion center designed to assess the distress and burden level of the family caregivers. Using the Caregiver Quality of Life Index - Cancer questionnaire, family caregivers were assessed for their overall sense of well-being. In the initial pilot process, family caregivers of patients with GI or lung cancer were asked if they wished to participate as they represented two of the largest disease group populations for this oncology clinic. Eighty-three family caregivers (44%) agreed. The sixty-six family caregivers who reported an increased level of distress were referred to the oncology medical social worker to assist with interventions as indicated by their responses.

The efficacy of this proactive approach of assessing family caregiver distress resulted in the implementation of 95 baseline interventions for the 66 participants. The follow-up assessments resulted in 25 interventions, a 26% decrease. Family caregivers reported a 13% increase in their reported quality of life at the time of their third evaluation with the lowest scores improving by 50%.

The need for ongoing support services for oncology family caregivers to help them thrive through the cancer journey was validated. In response to this need, as of September 2024, this process became a permanent feature of the hospital's oncology infusion center services which now supports family caregivers of patients in all oncology disease groups.