Shaw, J.M., Young, J.M., Butow, P.N., Badgery-Parker, T., Durcinoska, I., Harrison, J.D., . . . Solomon, M.J. (2015). Improving psychosocial outcomes for caregivers of people with poor prognosis gastrointestinal cancers: A randomized controlled trial (Family Connect). Supportive Care in Cancer, 24, 585–595.
To assess the effectiveness of an intervention using structured telephone interventions for the caregivers of patients diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer that had a poor prognosis to improve psychosocial outcomes of the patient and caregiver
This intervention was a randomized, controlled trial in which caregivers were assigned to either the family connect (FC) telephone intervention or usual care. The FC group received four standardized telephone calls in the 10 weeks after patient hospital discharge. The caregivers’ quality of life, caregiver burden, unmet supportive needs, and distress were assessed at three and six months.
This study was a parallel-randomized trial with a 1:1 group allocation.
Caregiver QOL scores were similar in both groups. The group that was randomized to receive the intervention reported a greater sense of social support and reduced worry about finances, and they also had fewer rehospitalization and emergency department visits.
This intervention did not demonstrate significant improvements in quality of life or sense of well-being for the caregivers. There were some trends observed through data analysis, which warranted the continued development of meaningful, telephone-based, caregiver-focused supportive care interventions.
This study did demonstrate the potential to improve patient and caregiver QOL. Future nursing research should focus on continuing to educate caregivers with strategies to identify and address patient care needs, which can ultimately reduce the overall cost to healthcare systems.