Development of a support program that has continued since the end of life to improve QOL in the bereaved family caregivers of cancer patients

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K17459
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Clinical nursing
• Research Institution: Tokyo Women's Medical University (2018-2020); National Cancer Center Japan (2017)
• Principal Investigator: KAWAHARA Miki (森下美紀) 東京女子医科大学, 看護学部, 助教 (10758840)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: Quality of Life / がん患者の遺族 / ケアの満足度 / 終末期から継続した支援

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Although previous retrospective cross-sectional studies of the bereaved family members of cancer patients have suggested that lower satisfaction with care given to terminal cancer patients was related to lower QOL of the bereaved family, the retrospective cross-sectional study design has limitations. This study aimed to clarify family caregivers’ satisfaction with the care of terminal cancer patients and bereaved families ’QOL.
We enrolled primary caregivers of cancer patients who hospitalized in palliative care unit. The participants completed the self-administered questionnaires at two time periods, within a month (baseline) and after 6 months since patients died. A total of 114 caregivers were included in each analysis. After the patient’s death, family caregivers’ QOL (mental component summary(MCS) of SF-36) significantly differed between low- and high-satisfaction caregiver groups (p=0.04). MCS and satisfaction with care were significantly correlated (p=0.01).

Free Research Field

緩和ケア看護学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

がん患者の遺族に対するケアについて、終末期から継続することが重要であること、死別後のQOLへの関連要因を示したことで、今後の遺族ケアの立案に対して新たな視点を提供した。このことは、今後、日本人の特徴を取り入れた遺族のQOLの側面、および遺族のQOLを向上するために必要なケアが検討・体系化され、前向き介入研究のデザインが構築されることに貢献したと予想する。遺族の QOLを改善することは、早期社会復帰を通した経済的なメリットもにもつながり社会的な意義についても大きいと考える。