Skills needed by family members to maintain the care of an advanced cancer patient

SUMMARYIn order to determine the need for family education with respect to care for terminally ill cancer patients, 27 advanced cancer patients and 28 family members of advanced cancer patients were interviewed in a structured manner regarding their perception of family educational needs during the patientsʼ preterminal period. Comparison interviews were obtained from 22 patients and family members. Twenty-nine family members of deceased cancer patients chosen by random selection were also interviewed. All patients were no longer recipients of specific anticancer therapy (palliative care only). Fisherʼs Exact Test was applied to test associations between variables. The only family educational need indicated by at least half of the respondents was the need to learn ambulation skills. However, 81% of the patients and 66% of the family members expressed the need to learn one or more of the following skillsambulation, bowel management, comfort care, dietary control, pain management, and wound and skin care. Disparity in responses between patients and their corresponding family members was consistently found which may represent a communication problem between the patient and his family. Respondents who had learned the necessary skills by the trial and error method expressed dissatisfaction with the learning method more frequently than did those who had been informally instructed by a health professional. There was no difference in satisfaction with regard to the presence or absence of followup by a health care professional. Responses were not associated with either the location of the interview or the patientʼs state of debility. However, among the family members of the deceased a significant association (p