Early Palliative Care Can Help Caregivers Too

Palliative care can help caregivers as they witness a positive downstream effect, according to new study. Aside from patients getting direct benefits from caregivers, introducing palliative care after cancer diagnoses improved the quality of life of caregivers.

Early palliative care established a positive feedback loop in families who are dealing with cancer, according to Dr. Aneej El-Jawahri, lead author of the study and oncologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. The result showed that it became easier for caregivers to take better care of their loved ones.

The research was based on 275 family caregivers, whose loved ones have been recently diagnosed with some form of cancer. The time period of the study was held from May 2011 to July 2015.

Researchers randomly assigned patients and their caregivers to receive either oncology care alone or with early palliative care. The researchers also met with caregivers several times throughout the 24-week study.

At 12 weeks, caregivers showed higher vitality and higher social functioning. The results also showed fewer signs of depression among caregivers. During the assessment, there were non-significant improvements noticed in terms of quality-of-life domains, including physical-role functioning and bodily pain.

After 24 weeks, a lower rate of depression symptoms was persistent. However, no difference was noticed in vitality and social functioning.

The quality of life among caregivers was measured using the Medical Outcome Study Health Short Form while the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale measured mood. Recent studies have shown that a psycho-educational intervention even by telephone can decrease depression for patients' caregivers, according to Healio.

The primary focus of palliative care is to manage symptoms, establish rapport, educate about the illness along with coping mechanisms, according to NH Voice. Other issues also addressed in palliative care include pain, fatigue, nausea, anxiety along with redirecting hope, coping counseling and behavioral coping.

The study is the first to show that palliative care, normally offered to terminally ill patients, offers significant benefits to people other than dying cancer patients. The findings were presented in a press briefing on Wednesday and will be presented in the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago.