Chinese General Practice Publishing House Co., Ltd
Doi
Abstract
BackgroundCare needs of Chinese cancer patients have increased significantly, due to massive population ageing and an increasing cancer incidence rate. Family caregiving, being the most important component in meeting those care needs, comes with many kinds of care burdens for caregivers. Thus, it is vital to systematically examine caregiving experiences of family caregivers for cancer patients.ObjectiveTo systematically synthesize the care experiences of family caregivers for Chinese cancer patients.MethodsAll qualitative studies on the caregiving experiences of family caregivers for Chinese cancer patients were systematically retrieved from Web of Science, PubMed, EmBase, Medline, Cochrane Library, grey literature in the health sciences, CNKI, and Wanfang Data from inception to May 23, 2021 between January and May 2021. The 2016 JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research was used for quality evaluation. Meta-synthesis of the included studies was performed.ResultsNineteen studies (6 in Chinese and 13 in English) were finally included, involving 295 family caregivers in total. Nine were rated A with very low risk of bias, and 10 were rated B with relatively low risk of bias. Three overarching themes containing 15 subthemes emerged: patient-centered care needs, care burden and care gains.ConclusionThis qualitative meta-synthesis provides a deep and comprehensive analysis of the care experiences of family caregivers of Chinese cancer patients, which may help improve the construction of medical system to meet the needs of patient-centered care, strengthen the positive factors affecting the care experience at the micro, meso and macro levels, and carry out intervention measures such as death and life education to reduce the negative impact of cultural factors on the care experience
