Effects of a Family-centered Early Palliative Care Intervention on the Mental Health and Quality of Life in Patients With Advanced Cancer and Their Caregivers.
Congming Bu, Jing Wang, Feng Gu et al.
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In 30 seconds
This remote randomized controlled trial evaluated family-centered early palliative care in Chinese patients with advanced lung, breast, or colon cancer and their caregivers. Patients and caregivers were randomized as pairs to four weeks of health education alone or health education plus four weeks of early palliative care. At both the immediate post-intervention assessment and one-month follow-up, patients receiving the intervention had higher resilience, benefit discovery, and quality of life, and lower anxiety and depression than controls (P <0.01). Group, time, and role interactions were also reported for anxiety, depression, and resilience.
Key findings
- At both post-intervention assessments, intervention-group patients had higher resilience, benefit discovery, and quality of life than controls (P <0.01).
- Intervention-group patients had lower anxiety and depression than controls at both post-intervention assessments (P <0.01).
- Group-by-time-by-role interactions were reported for anxiety, depression, and resilience (P <0.01), with differences between patients and caregivers.
Why it matters
Advanced cancer affects patients and caregivers together, and this trial assessed outcomes in both members of the pair. Its findings suggest that adding early palliative care to health education may support emotional well-being and quality of life, while the reported role differences indicate that outcomes may not be identical for patients and caregivers.
What to keep in mind
The abstract reports outcomes only through one month after the intervention, so longer-term effects are not established.