Cancer also affects family members – prompting new model for tailored support

"In my work I have seen how family members can be affected; it can lead to stress-related illnesses, sick leave and reduced ability to manage everyday life. That is why it was interesting to develop a model for caregiver support that can be used in health care," says Samuelsson.

It is important that family members are encouraged to express their own support needs.

Maria Samuelsson

In her thesis work, she began by taking stock of the support models that already exist. This revealed that current frameworks focus only on the relatives in their caring role or are too resource and time consuming. In different sub-studies, she interviewed contact nurses and family caregivers about their experiences of family caregiver support and what needs exist.

She concluded that there is a need for interventions that are specifically targeted at family caregivers as individuals.

"We need to rethink support for family members; we need to find a model for the sake of the relatives themselves, not just indirectly because relatives are important for supporting the person who is ill.”

During the process, contact nurses were consulted on which methods are practically applicable. According to Samuelsson, prevention and follow-up are important focuses.

“The model developed focuses on preparing family members not only for the disease and treatment, but also for their own cancer experience. It is important that family members are encouraged to express their own support needs. One recommendation is also that there is the possibility of support even after the end of treatment to be able to take care of the needs that remain.

Samuelsson hopes her research could be widely utilised:

“I am now planning to evaluate the implementation and impact of the model together with contact nurses, patients, and family members. My studies have been done in the context of colorectal cancer patients, but it could be adapted for use in other settings as well.”