Family members' conceptions of their supportive care needs across the colorectal cancer trajectory - A phenomenographic study.
Maria Samuelsson, Jenny Jakobsson, Mariette Bengtsson and 2 others
PMID 38940487WHAT IT FOUND
Family members of people with colorectal cancer described seeing their own support needs as unimportant, expecting professionals to meet them, or recognizing them only later.
Needs were left unmet when nobody assessed them or they did not know where to turn.
Key findings
01Some family members described their own support needs as unimportant because the patient's prognosis seemed good, because care did not invite them to take responsibility, or because they compared themselves with the patient and other relatives.
02Some family members saw their needs as satisfiable only by colorectal cancer professionals or counsellors, especially for firsthand information and emotional processing, while others preferred to manage needs themselves through chosen support or coping to avoid burdening others.
03Support needs were sometimes understood only after the fact, and some were left unmet when professionals did not assess them, when contacts stopped after surgery or during survival, or when family members did not know where to turn.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study interviewed 23 family members, so it describes conceptions rather than how common they are. Participants came from Swedish outpatient colorectal cancer clinics with a national care plan and cancer specialist nurse contacts, so the findings may not transfer to settings without that structure. Only three participants were in the diagnostic phase at recruitment, and the intended variety of ages and relationships was not fully achieved. Family members of people in a palliative phase or expected to need palliative care were excluded. Participants were interviewed about experiences across the trajectory, so reports included retrospective accounts, and two participants were five and six years from diagnosis. Telephone interviews may reduce non-verbal cues, although the authors used them to reach multiple regions. The study did not collect further sociodemographic or health status data, so it cannot show whether vulnerable subgroups have different needs. The study did not test whether any form of supportive care improves family outcomes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these categories as evidence that a supportive care intervention works or as a count of how many family members have unmet needs. The study describes how family members think about their needs, not how many people share each conception.