ArticleJournal of pain and symptom management2023
Cancer Caregivers' Prognostic and End-of-Life Communication Needs and Experiences and their Impact.
Article in Journal of pain and symptom management, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Improving communication of prognostic uncertainty in advanced illness: a realist review.BMJ open · 2026Pooled it
- Communication about incurable illness and remaining life between spouses and patients with incurable illness receiving specialized home care: effects of a family caregiver-targeted web-based psycho-educational intervention.BMC palliative care · 2024Trial
- From diagnosis to daily realities: longitudinal phenomenological exploration of symptom trajectories in glioma survivorship.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Article
- Family perceptions of the transition from hospital to home palliative care: a phenomenological study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Article
- "What are you afraid of?" A mixed methods exploration of serious illness communication with oncology patients on general internal medicine wards in Canada.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Rapid Review of Family Caregiver Engagement in Hospice and End-of-Life Patient Care: Implications for Nursing Practice.Journal of hospice and palliative nursing : JHPN : the official journal of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association · 2025Review
- Early and late code status documentation in cancer patients managed by a dedicated supportive care team.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Article
- "You Want to Shield Your Kids": Patients' and Their Adult-Children's Serious Illness Conversations.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2025Article
- Feedback from bereaved relatives via Medical Examiners: what kinds of concerns are raised?BMJ open quality · 2025Article
- What are family caregivers' experiences of coordinating end-of-life care at home? A narrative review.Palliative & supportive care · 2025Review
- Exploring the lived experience of loneliness and social isolation in informal palliative caregivers: A systematic review.Palliative care and social practice · 2025Review
- Cancer prognosis information-seeking among survivors and caregivers: findings from the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024Article
- Article
- Quality of Life and Prognostic Awareness in Caregivers of Patients Receiving Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy.Transplantation and cellular therapy · 2024Article
- A comparison of adult-child and spousal cancer caregivers' participation in medical decisions.PloS one · 2024Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
contextFamily caregivers of patients with advanced cancer are integrally involved in communications regarding prognosis and end-of-life (EOL) planning and care. Yet little research has examined caregivers' communication experiences or the impact of these experiences on patients and caregivers at EOL.
objectivesInvestigate cancer caregivers' communication experiences and potential impact on patient and caregiver outcomes.
methodsSemistructured interviews with bereaved family cancer caregivers (N=19) about their communication needs and experiences as their loved one approached EOL and died. Audiotaped interviews were transcribed and thematically analyzed for communication-related themes.
resultsCaregivers described fulfilling many important communication roles including information gathering and sharing, advocating, and facilitating-often coordinating communication with multiple partners (e.g., patient, family, oncology team, hospital team). Caregivers reported that, among the many topics they communicated about, prognosis and EOL were the most consequential and challenging. These challenges arose for several reasons including caregivers' and patients' discordant communication needs, limited opportunity for caregivers to satisfy their personal communication needs, uncertainty regarding their communication needs and responsibilities, and feeling unacknowledged by the care team. These challenges negatively impacted caregivers' abilities to satisfy their patient-related communication responsibilities, which shaped many outcomes including end-of-life decisions, care satisfaction, and bereavement.
conclusionCaregivers often facilitate essential communication for patients with advanced cancers yet face challenges successfully fulfilling their own and patients' communication needs, particularly surrounding prognostic and end-of-life conversations. Future research and interventions should explore strategies to help caregivers navigate uncertainty, create space to ask sensitive questions, and facilitate patient-caregiver discussions about differing informational needs.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.