Caregivers spend an average of 30 hours per week caring for patients with metastatic prostate cancer, researchers reported in study findings published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Post-traumatic stress disorder can develop after individuals experience an event that goes beyond their usual stressors, affecting a broad range of people. It is associated with exposure to death or threatened death, including a sudden, catastrophic event due to a medical incident. A cancer diagnosis’s significant psychological stressors can affect not only patients, but their caregivers as well.

Cancer caregivers are silent and sometimes forgotten victims of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Its impact on patients with cancer and healthcare providers is widely discussed, but it also affects caregiver responsibilities and burden.

Social connection with others is widely considered a fundamental human need, crucial to well-being and survival. A growing body of literature is evaluating cancer caregivers’ needs, yet strategies to address loneliness, which has broadly detrimental effects on caregivers, are still in their infancy. Therefore, my goal is to identify better support strategies for caregivers as they support their loved ones with cancer.

About 30% of all cancer survivors and their caregivers have reported psychological distress, which encompasses diagnoses of depression, anxiety, and overwhelming stress. For both survivors and caregivers, psychological distress can negatively impact different aspects of treatment, care, and well-being. In fact, patients with lower levels of psychological distress have been shown to recover quicker, exhibit fewer symptoms, and even have lower mortality rates after treatment. 

Family members are often the first people to step into the caregiver role when a loved one gets sick. However, studies show that caregivers face unintended burdens and potential consequence as a result of the support and care they give to loved ones.