Department of Family Medicine, CHA Gumi Medical Center, CHA University, Gumi, Republic of Korea.
Total Healthcare Center, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
J Cancer Surviv. 2022 Oct;16(5):948-959. doi: 10.1007/s11764-021-01087-7. Epub 2021 Nov 6.
Caregivers of childhood cancer survivors (CCS) have diverse needs, which should be addressed to provide comprehensive cancer care. We aimed to evaluate the unmet needs of caregivers of CCS.
The subjects were 700 caregivers recruited at three major hospitals in South Korea. We collected study data using self-administered questionnaires and a thorough review of medical records. We assessed the unmet needs of caregivers using the comprehensive needs assessment tool for cancer caregivers and evaluated factors associated with the highest tertile range of unmet needs by multiple logistic regression analysis.
The greatest unmet needs of caregivers had to do with healthcare staff, followed by information. Compared with father-caregivers, mother-caregivers had greater unmet needs related to health and psychological problems, family/social support, and religious/spiritual support, with odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of 3.79 (2.52-5.69), 3.17 (2.09-4.81), and 1.69 (1.14-2.50), respectively. Compared with caregivers of the youngest CCS (< 6 years), caregivers of CCS aged 12-18 years and caregivers of the oldest CCS (≥ 19 years) respectively showed 2.62 (1.24-5.52) and 3.18 (1.34-7.55) times greater unmet needs for information. Caregivers of CCS who received haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation had a 2.01-fold (1.14-3.57) greater need for practical support.
Caregivers of CCS had substantial unmet needs required for comprehensive care for CCS. Several individual characteristics of caregivers and their children were significantly associated with greater unmet needs of the caregivers.
Personalized support based on the characteristics of both CCS and their caregivers is required to provide comprehensive care for CCS.
儿童癌症幸存者（CCS）的照顾者有多样化的需求，为提供全面的癌症护理，这些需求应该得到满足。我们旨在评估 CCS 照顾者的未满足需求。
本研究对象为在韩国三家主要医院招募的 700 名照顾者。我们使用自我管理问卷和全面的病历回顾收集研究数据。我们使用癌症照顾者综合需求评估工具评估照顾者的未满足需求，并通过多因素逻辑回归分析评估与未满足需求最高三分位范围相关的因素。
照顾者最未满足的需求与医护人员有关，其次是信息。与父亲照顾者相比，母亲照顾者在健康和心理问题、家庭/社会支持以及宗教/精神支持方面有更大的未满足需求，其优势比（95%置信区间）分别为 3.79（2.52-5.69）、3.17（2.09-4.81）和 1.69（1.14-2.50）。与年龄最小的 CCS（<6 岁）的照顾者相比，年龄为 12-18 岁的 CCS 照顾者和年龄最大的 CCS（≥19 岁）照顾者的信息未满足需求分别高出 2.62（1.24-5.52）和 3.18（1.34-7.55）倍。接受造血干细胞移植的 CCS 的照顾者对实际支持的需求增加了 2.01 倍（1.14-3.57）。
CCS 的照顾者有大量全面照顾 CCS 的未满足需求。照顾者和他们的孩子的几个个体特征与照顾者更大的未满足需求显著相关。
需要根据 CCS 和照顾者的特点提供个性化支持，为 CCS 提供全面的护理。
