Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34414468›Full record

ArticleSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2022

Experiences of being a family caregiver to a patient treated for oesophageal cancer-1 year after surgery.

Cecilia H Ringborg, Anna Schandl, Yvonne Wengström, Pernilla Lagergren

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.7field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Health-related quality of life in esophageal cancer: a state-of-the-art review of patient-reported outcomes and an evidence and gap map.Diseases of the esophagus : official journal of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Moral distress among family caregivers of people with cancer in palliative care: A qualitative study.Canadian oncology nursing journal = Revue canadienne de nursing oncologique · 2025
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Caring through uncertainty: a qualitative exploration of older colorectal cancer caregivers' experiences during palliative chemotherapy.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024
    Article
  6. Understanding the experiences of older caregivers of patients with lung cancer during palliative chemotherapy in China: a qualitative study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2022
    Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.

Cecilia H RingborgSurgical Care Science, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, 171 76, Stockholm, Sweden.
Anna SchandlSurgical Care Science, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, 171 76, Stockholm, Sweden.
Yvonne WengströmTheme Cancer, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Pernilla LagergrenSurgical Care Science, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, 171 76, Stockholm, Sweden. pernilla.lagergren@ki.se.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4634-0233
Karolinska University Hospital · SE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThere is a need to put family caregivers on the cancer survivorship research agenda. Therefore, the aim of this is study is to explore the experiences of being a family caregiver to a patient treated for oesophageal cancer.

methodThis qualitative study was based on the ongoing nationwide and prospective Oesophageal Surgery on Cancer patients - Adaptation and Recovery study (OSCAR) including patients surgically treated for oesophageal cancer in Sweden and their closest family caregiver. One year after the patient's surgery, each family caregiver received a self-report questionnaire kit to fill in. For the purpose of this study, the responses to the open-ended question "Is there anything else you would like to share?" were used and analysed by conducting thematic analysis.

resultsIn total, 112 responses to the open-ended question were transcribed and analysed. The text rendered three themes: Discontinued support from healthcare-mostly a positive experience before surgery and in the acute survivorship phase. However, after discharge from the hospital, the family caregiver felt as though they were left alone, fully responsible for the patient's care. A changed life-unprepared for life-changing situation after the patient received the cancer diagnosis. A feeling that nothing will ever be the same and like your sense of self is lost. Psychological distress-was described as a feeling of being alone. Family caregivers felt invisible and no longer important to family and friends. The patient was the one that mattered.

conclusionThis study indicates that patients and family caregivers would benefit from a more family-centred healthcare, where the patients' as well as the caregivers' perspectives would be acknowledged.

Indexed as

CaregiversEsophageal NeoplasmsFamilyHumansProspective StudiesQualitative ResearchSurveys and QuestionnairesCancer survivorshipFamily perspectivesPsychosocial aspectsQualitative study

Identifiers

PMID34414468
PMCPMC8636407
OpenAlexW3193507744

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.