Qualitative Insights on the Caregiving of Gastrointestinal Cancer Patients with Low Quality of Life Scores

Abstract

Introduction: Caring for gastrointestinal cancer patients can be demanding and to some, caregivers, burdensome; resulting in them having low quality of life (QOL) and thus they may become the next potential patients. Hence, true heartfelt experiences need to be captured to highlight issues and preventive measures that are not voiced out as most often caregiving is done in silence and out of responsibility. Therefore, this study aimed to explore on the caregivers’ insights on how caregiving experience has resulted in their low QOL. Methods: Seven family caregivers were purposively selected from two oncology centres in the Klang Valley, Malaysia for this qualitative case study. The selection was based on the low scores obtained from Malay Caregiver Quality of Life Cancer (MCQOL) questionnaire during an initial cross-sectional study. Following that, in-depth interviews were performed on those selected caregivers. Interview data were triangulated with the questionnaire and observations for validity. Member and expert checking were conducted to ensure credibility and trustworthiness. A thematic content analysis was later performed. Results: Thematic analysis revealed four distinct contributors to the caregivers’ QOL; namely, patients’ financial and stress management; impact towards physical, psychological, social (including relationship) wellbeing, communication; and support from families, organisation and community. Conclusion: The qualitative study discovered evidence for collaborative support needed to ensure better QOL for the caregivers.