Monday, 5 March 2018

Experiences of the Families of Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy



The cancer is the second cause of death in the world; in 2015, almost one of the six deaths stemmed from this illness, also it is foreseen that the number of new cases increases 70 % in the next 20 years. Chemotherapy is one of the treatments used to fight cancer disease. This treatment causes numerous side effects that most patients experience once arrived at his home and that are shared with relatives who suffer indirectly, especially those who have assumed the role of primary caregivers. Some common side effects from chemotherapy are fatigue, nausea, vomiting, hair loss, pain etc. There have been numerous studies on the experiences of cancer patients in chemotherapy treatment although there are few who analyze this situation and face closest to sick relatives. Cancer is a chronic disease that involves many changes in the life of the individual and has an impact not only for the affected, but also for your environment. Often throughout the process a whole problems associated with the disease develop anxiety disorders or depression, high levels of suffering, somatic discomfort and even psychosocial impairment. 

Even when the patient who receives the physical consequences of this disease and its treatment, psychosocial consequences affect the entire family. Programs of palliative care are started that whose target is to provide quality of life to the patient with an illness portencialmente mortal as it is the cancer and the family that takes care of it; as he recognizes the WHO in the 67th World Assembly of the Health in 2014 “the palliative care constitutes an exposition that allows to improve the quality of life of the patients (adults and children) and its relatives when they confront the problems inherent in a potentially mortal illness, exposition that materializes in the prevention and the mitigation of the suffering by means of the precocious detection and the correct evaluation and therapy of the pain and other problems, be already this of physical, psychosocial order or spiritual.

The family usually provides the patient the main support, but at the same time supports a high level of physical and especially emotional overload. Some studies show that the prevalence of emotional disorders (mainly anxiety and depression) is practically the same in relatives of patients than in those affected, reaching patients considered “second order”. Not all are suitable coping mechanisms so emotional disturbances are frequent and adopting health habits sometimes harmful to combat stress.

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