The Impact of Cancer in Patient’s Caregivers: A Literature Review

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the effects of cancer in mental health and health-related quality of life of the primary caregivers to
patients. Cancer can change in many ways the status quo of the family. All the members of the family will change in some way. From a
family systems perspective, dysfunction or illness in one family member affects other family members, because a family unit functions as
an interconnected whole. Although many research is done having cancer patients in their focus, there is a limited research regarding the
impact of a life – threatening disease in the patient’s family and especially in the persons that care for them. It makes sense that caring
for a cancer patient, can create numerous needs in these individuals, causing various psychosocial or other types of problems. These
various problems will be in the focus of this literature review.