Interventions to Improve the Preparedness to Care for Family Caregivers of Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Aylin Bilgin, Leyla Ozdemir
PMID 34608043WHAT IT FOUND
Across 11 studies, educational, supportive, self-care, and psychoeducational programs improved cancer caregivers’ preparedness to care.
Nurse-led programs improved preparedness, but many studies were unblinded and had dropouts.
Key findings
01Five pretest/posttest studies involving 297 caregivers found an increase in caregivers’ preparedness to care after interventions.
02Six controlled studies involving 457 patients in the intervention group and 425 individuals in the control group found improved preparedness in the intervention group compared with the control group.
03Randomized trials showed a significant difference in preparedness between intervention and control groups, but non-randomized controlled trials did not.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only English-language peer-reviewed studies published from 2000 to 2020 were included, so other relevant studies may be missing. Most included studies were not randomized controlled trials: 5 were one-group pretest/posttest studies and 2 were non-randomized controlled trials. Only 2 of 11 studies were rated strong methodological quality. Many studies lacked blinding, did not limit confounders, or had high dropout rates. Interventions varied widely in content, duration, setting, and providers. It is hard to identify which component produced the improvement. The funnel plot showed slight asymmetry, although the Egger regression test was not significant. Attrition reduced the number of analyzed participants in the included studies.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that these programs improve patient outcomes or reduce caregiver burden. The review measured only caregivers’ preparedness to care, and many included studies were uncontrolled, unblinded, or had high dropout rates.