A study looking at the quality of life of people who care for someone with cancer (CarNAT)

The research team found that friends and family caring for people newly diagnosed with cancer had many different needs, but that health care professionals were generally good at meeting most of them.

The research team gave out 420 questionnaires to people who were involved in looking after a friend or family member who had been diagnosed with cancer within the previous 3 months. They had 126 completed questionnaires returned to them.

There were 74 items in the questionnaires, covering a large range of issues including information, psychological and practical needs. The people taking part rated each of the items in two ways – if they had a need in that area, and whether the need had been met.

They were asked to score their needs in the following way

• 0 = no need in this area
• 1 = low level of need
• 2 = medium level of need
• 3 = high level of need

The results showed that the average level in this group of carers was 2.4, meaning that there was quite a high level of need.

The carers were also asked to score whether their needs had been met in the following way

• 0 = need fully met
• 1 = need partly met
• 2 = need not met

The results showed that the average score was 0.52, meaning that most people’s needs were met.

The research team looked at the difference in age, gender, cancer type and treatment type and found that there were very few differences between them.

When they looked in more detail about which needs were met, they found that the most frequent needs were the best met. This included things such as getting information and treatment. The least frequent needs were less well met. This included things such as childcare issues and respite care.

On balance, the more common needs were generally met by healthcare professionals. And those which were more unique to an individual were less well met.

The research team concluded that healthcare professionals were doing a good job in meeting the needs of carers. But they must remember that carers are all different, and they should routinely assess the individual needs of each carer. This will mean the carer is more able to care for the person with cancer.

We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) but may not have been published in a medical journal yet. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.