Profiles of caregivers most at risk of having unmet supportive care needs: Recommendations for healthcare professionals in oncology

Anne-Sophie Baudry (1) , Laurence Vanlemmens (2) , Amelie Anota (3, 4, 5) , Alexis Cortot (6, 7) , Guillaume Piessen (8, 7) , Veronique Christophe (1, 4)

1 SCALab - Laboratoire Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives - UMR 9193
2 UNICANCER/Lille - Centre Régional de Lutte contre le Cancer Oscar Lambret [Lille]
3 RIGHT - Interactions hôte-greffon-tumeur, ingénierie cellulaire et génique - UFC (UMR INSERM 1098)
4 UMQVC - Unité de Méthodologie et de Qualité de Vie en Cancérologie
5 CHRU Besançon - Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Besançon
6 Hôpital Albert Calmette
7 CANTHER - Cancer Heterogeneity, Plasticity and Resistance to Therapies - UMR 9020 - U 1277
8 Hôpital Claude Huriez [Lille]

Purpose: This study aimed to identify profiles of caregivers to cancer patients at higher risk of having at least one moderately or highly unmet supportive care need based on 1) relevant socio-demographic (e.g. age, gender) and clinical (e.g. type of cancer, phase of the cancer pathway) variables highlighted in the literature and easily identifiable in routine, and 2) caregivers' anxiety and depression symptoms. Method: Three hundred and sixty-four main caregivers completed a questionnaire assessing their supportive care needs (SCNS-P&C-F) and anxiety and depression symptoms (HADS) during the treatment or follow-up stage of patients with digestive, breast, or lung cancer. Decision trees were used to identify profiles of caregivers with the Conditional inference Tree (CTree) technique. Results: In our study, only the combination of three main variables was important to predict the risk of unmet supportive care needs of caregivers: anxiety and/or depression symptoms, the age of caregivers or patients, and the presence/absence of metastases. Emotional distress has the greatest impact, exceeding that of the socio-demographic and clinical variables considered in this study. Conclusions: This study shows the importance of considering a set of variables and their combinations rather than evaluating their effects separately. Routinely assessing the anxiety and depression symptoms of caregivers using the HADS could improve the screening of caregivers at higher risk of unmet supportive care needs based on socio-demographic and clinical variables only. This study provides recommendations on how to identify caregivers at risk of unmet needs, in the context of an inability to support all caregivers.

Mots clés: Anxiety; Cancer; Caregiver; Depression; Profiles; Risks; Supportive care needs; Anxiety

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Anne-Sophie Baudry, Laurence Vanlemmens, Amelie Anota, Alexis Cortot, Guillaume Piessen, et al.. Profiles of caregivers most at risk of having unmet supportive care needs: Recommendations for healthcare professionals in oncology. European Journal of Oncology Nursing, 2019, 43, pp.101669. ⟨10.1016/j.ejon.2019.09.010⟩. ⟨hal-03489044⟩