The impact of COVID-19 on cancer patients, their carers and oncology health professionals: A qualitative study.
P Butow, P E Havard, Z Butt and 11 others
PMID 35120797WHAT IT FOUND
Cancer patients, carers and oncology staff in Australia described fear of catching or spreading COVID-19, isolation from loved ones and uncertainty about treatment; some patients felt less alone when the wider community shared restrictions.
Key findings
01Interviews yielded three shared themes: fear and death anxiety, isolation and uncertainty, with a health-professional sub-theme of moral distress and work-stress.
02Patients and carers feared infecting loved ones or other immune compromised patients in hospital and adopted stringent protective behaviours.
03Carers discussed feeling excluded from patient care, and health professionals noted that carers had less support from the treating team.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was small and chosen for qualitative depth, so the themes cannot be generalised to all cancer patients, carers or oncology staff. The study was conducted in Australia during a period with fewer cases and deaths than many other countries, so the context may not match places with heavier pandemic burden. Patients and carers who did not speak English or could not give consent were excluded, and the sample over-represented women and breast cancer. No intervention was tested, so the paper cannot show that support, screening or communication changes improve outcomes. Quantitative anxiety and depression scores were self-report and descriptive, with no comparison group. Some participant numbers vary because of missing data.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that distress screening or support programmes were shown to work. This paper describes experiences and self-report scores; it did not test an intervention or compare outcomes with a control group.