Factors associated with resilience in spousal caregivers of patients with cancer: An integrative review.
Haiyan Sun, Yang Qin, Pornpat Hengudomsub
PMID 33465282WHAT IT FOUND
Cancer spouses with better coping, spirituality, family support and close couple relationships were linked to higher resilience.
High burden, distress and patient health problems were linked to lower resilience.
Key findings
01The review included 26 articles and classified 12 resilience-related factors as internal or external, positive or negative.
02Eight articles found caregiver burden, perceived burden or stress was negatively related to resilience.
03Nine articles found family and social support was related to resilience.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The review reports factors associated with resilience, not predictive factors, so it does not show that any factor causes higher or lower resilience. The quantitative studies included 14 cross-sectional and 3 longitudinal studies, and there were no high-quality level articles such as randomised controlled trials or meta-analyses. Different studies used different resilience scales or psychological outcomes to represent resilience, and the paper states these measurements are not directly comparable. Participants recruited from support groups, communities or hospitals may represent caregivers more likely to seek help, limiting generalisability. The quality assessment gave only a rough estimation of study quality, and demographic findings such as sex, age and education were inconsistent across studies.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these factors as proof that an intervention will increase resilience. The review synthesised observational studies, and the included studies measured resilience in different ways, so it does not show cause and effect.