Association between emotional competence and risk of unmet supportive care needs in caregivers of cancer patients at the beginning of care.

PURPOSE: This cross-sectional study explored the associations between intrapersonal and interpersonal emotional competence (EC) and the unmet supportive care needs (SCN), anxiety, and depression of informal caregivers at the beginning of gastrointestinal or haematological cancer care, i.e. during chemotherapy and within 6 months after diagnosis. METHODS: The participants completed a self-reported questionnaire, comprising the Short Profile of Emotional Competence (S-PEC), the SCN survey for partners and caregivers (SCNS-P&C), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Multivariate logistic regression models were performed to explore the influence of EC on unmet SCN and the presence of moderate/severe anxiety or depression. RESULTS: Most of the 203 caregivers were women (n = 141, 69.80%) and the partners of patients (n = 148, 73.27%) suffering from gastrointestinal (n = 112, 55.17%) and haematological (n = 91, 44.83%) cancer. Only intrapersonal EC showed a significant influence out of all the dimensions of unmet SCN related to healthcare services and information (odds ratio (OR) = 0.35 [95%CI 0.19; 0.65]), emotional and psychological needs (OR = 0.43 [95%CI 0.25; 0.74]), work and social security (OR = 0.57 [95%CI 0.37; 0.88]), and communication and family support (OR = 0.61 [95%CI 0.39; 0.95]). A one-unit increase in the intrapersonal EC score significantly reduced the probability of anxiety (OR = 0.42, [95%CI 0.26; 0.68]) and depression (OR = 0.34, [95%CI 0.21; 0.55]). CONCLUSION: Intrapersonal EC of caregivers is crucial to reduce the risk of unmet SCN, anxiety, and depression from the beginning of care. Identifying caregivers with lower intrapersonal EC may be necessary to increase vigilance from healthcare professionals and psychologists.

Unmet supportive care needs of caregivers according to medical settings of cancer patients: a cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE: The objectives of this study were to compare the unmet supportive care needs (SCN) of caregivers and describe the 10 most frequent of them according to various cancer settings: phase of cancer care pathway (i.e., treatment vs. follow-up), cancer site (i.e., breast, digestive, or lung cancer), and cancer status (i.e., metastatic vs. non-metastatic). METHODS: Participants completed a self-reported questionnaire to assess their unmet SCN (SCNS-P&C). According to their cancer settings, non-parametric ANOVA or Mann-Whitney tests were performed to compare the SCNS-P&C scores. The prevalence of caregivers with unmet SCN was described using percentages. RESULTS: Among 583 participants, 516 caregivers (88.5%) completed the SCNS-P&C questionnaire. Most patients had digestive (47.3%), non-metastatic cancer (67.6%) and were recruited during the follow-up phase (56.2%). The results revealed no significant difference in SCNS-P&C scores according to cancer settings except for caregivers of patients with metastatic cancer, who reported more unmet SCN related to health care service and information needs. The more qualitative item per item analysis seems to indicate the existence of five frequently unsatisfied SCN across situations, especially concerns about the recurrence and reduction of stress in patients, with variable ranking among the most unmet SCN. CONCLUSION: Although there was no significant difference in unmet SCN scores between medical settings, examining the prevalence of unmet SCN helps identify the issues to focus on when supporting caregivers and developing dedicated consultations or interventions for them.

Psychometric validation of the French version of the Supportive Care Needs Survey for Partners and Caregivers of cancer patients.

The objective of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the French version of the Supportive Care Needs Survey for Partners and Caregivers (SCNS-P&C-F). The SCNS-P&C-F, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the CareGiver Oncology Quality of Life questionnaire (CarGOQoL) were completed by 327 caregivers at the baseline. The SCNS-P&C-F was completed a second time by 121 participants within 30 days. Four factors were retained with a good explanation of variance (82.65%) and acceptable internal consistencies (α: 0.70 to 0.94): 1) Health Care Service and Information Needs, 2) Emotional and Psychological Needs, 3) Work and Social Security Needs and 4) Communication and Family Support Needs. Overall, convergent and divergent validities were confirmed. The caregiver's gender, age, professional status and level of anxiety and depression, as well as the type of relationship with the patient and cancer, showed an effect on some caregivers' unmet supportive care needs. Lastly, the test-retest reliability was acceptable (> 0.70), except for the communication and family support dimension. The scale is appropriate for clinical and research use (e.g. good reliability and validity).