The psycho-oncological burden of care: experiences of familial caregivers for people with cancer

Abstract

There has been a lot of ignorance on the issue of cancer and cancer caregiving in Zimbabwe. The purpose of the study is to identify the burden of care of familial caregivers for people with cancer that is; psychological or emotional, social, physical and financial problems experienced by familial caregivers of cancer patients with research findings and make recommendations for appropriate intervention. There is need to research on the experiences of familial caregivers of people with cancer since cancer care has shifted from the hospital to homes; familial caregivers are faced with a burden to care without any training and knowledge of the disease. The research made use of qualitative research approach and will also be conducted as an interpretive phenomenological study. The sample of the study will consist of six familial caregivers with different ages, different types of cancer and different locations. The research data collected through unstructured interviews. Data was analysed in an interpretive phenomenological way which is; first by coming up with main themes then break them down into subthemes that were then discussed in line with the responses of the caregivers. Findings indicate that caregivers are sometimes not aware of the burden they carry when caregiving, they have also had reported to have experienced physical , social, psychological and financial problems and finally they reported to have come up with coping strategies that have helped them to cope with the burden. Conclusively, familial caregivers of people with cancer are having a hard time to adjust to changes that occur from the diagnosis of a family member through the time he/ she will be getting treatment.