Support Needs and Preferences of Family Caregivers of Lung Cancer Patients

Support Needs and Preferences of Family Caregivers of Lung Cancer Patients

This study is being done to learn what the needs are in relation to the family members. Some family members seek counseling; others do not. The institution wants to try to understand why and wants to see if they can improve our support services for family members.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Primary family caregiver identified by a patient who is approximately within 4 to 6 weeks of a new visit to a thoracic clinic and receiving cancer care at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center or Queens Cancer Center
• Caregiver is at least 18 years of age.
• Caregiver has adequate English fluency for completion of data collection. The surveys were designed and validated in English and are not currently available in other languages. Translation of questionnaires into other languages would require reestablishing the reliability and validity of these measures. Therefore, participants must be able to communicate in English to complete the surveys.
• Clinically meaningful distress defined as a score of 8 or greater on the Anxiety or Depression subscale of the HADS (see Bjelland et al., 2002; Zigmond & Snaith, 1983).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients or caregivers exhibiting significant psychiatric or cognitive impairment (dementia/delirium, retardation, active psychosis) that in the judgment of the investigators would preclude providing informed consent and study participation
• Patient has lung cancer recurrence
• Currently participating in a psychosocial intervention trial