NEEDS OF CAREGIVERS OF CLINIC AND HOSPICE CANCER-PATIENTS

This prospective correlational study compared the self-identified need s of 55 caregivers of clinic (n = 25) and hospice (n = 30) cancer pati ents. Patients identified their family caregivers who filled out the H ome Caregiver Need Survey (HCNS) and a demographic data form. The HCNS measures the importance and satisfaction of needs on two seven-point Likert-type scales, Descriptive statistics and t tests were used to an alyze the data. Caregivers of both clinic and hospice cancer patients ranked the needs items in the Information and Spiritual categories as most important. Variation in types of information occurred between the groups. Clinic caregivers were less satisfied with how well their nee ds in the Information category were met. Differences between the group s in the importance scores were significant at the 0.001 level for the needs in the Patient Care and Personal Care categories. Differences i n the satisfaction scores between the groups were significant at the 0 .001 level for needs in the Household and Patient Care categories. The HCNS is helpful for assessing and screening caregiver needs and ident ifying differences in needs between groups. Health care providers in c linics and hospices must individualize teaching to meet the specific n eeds of caregivers, particularly those needs related to information.