Comfort Needs of Cancer Family Caregivers in Outpatient Palliative Care.

This was a secondary analysis, so the researchers could not adjust interview questions during data collection as in a primary qualitative study. The analysis focused on comfort needs and did not examine all parts of Comfort Theory. The interviews came from a single outpatient palliative care clinic in the Midwestern United States. The analyzed sample was almost entirely female and Caucasian, so findings may not represent racial, ethnic or male caregivers. Only 39 of the 63 available transcribed interviews were analyzed; 18 of 83 trial participants declined interviews and 2 recordings failed. Caregivers were interviewed only after exiting the trial, and those who exited early could choose whether to be interviewed, which may affect whose voices are included.

The original trial was funded by the National Cancer Institute under grant R21CA191165. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Do not read these themes as evidence that a specific caregiver intervention improves comfort or outcomes. This was a qualitative secondary analysis of 39 interviews, almost entirely from female and Caucasian caregivers, so it describes needs in one group and does not test treatment effects.