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Diagnostic Issues: Family Dynamics and Caregiving for an Individual with Cancer

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Cancer Caregiving in the United States

Part of the book series: Caregiving: Research • Practice • Policy ((CARE))

Abstract

For the vast majority of the 1.6 million Americans diagnosed with cancer annually, their cancer care is delivered in outpatient settings. Living with a cancer diagnosis is a 24-hour experience, which means that family caregivers face responsibility for much of the care needed by persons diagnosed with cancer. Caregivers’ responsibilities are magnified by the many advances in cancer treatments, especially aggressive combination therapies that increase the complexity of patient needs over the trajectory of the cancer experience. The needs are equally complex, if not more so, for the people who will eventually die from their cancers. This chapter presents three model to address caregiving during the diagnostic phase of the cancer trajectory, a phase in which family dynamics set an important context for cancer caregiving throughout the other phases. A case example showcases the current status of care giving during the diagnostic phase of cancer care and highlights future directions for research and ways to implement conceptual frameworks. Such information can enhance the caregiving experience as patients and their caregivers begin to navigate the acceptable options for curative and palliative cancer care treatments.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    From How can I be dying, I feel so good? Gypsy’s escape from lung cancer (1994), by D. J. Wilkie and D. B. Lawrence, Washington State Cancer Pain Initiative News, 2(1), 1, 6–7. Copyright 1994 by D. J. Wilkie & D. B. Lawrence. Modified with permission.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 South Damen Avenue (MC802), 60612-7350, Chicago, IL, USA

    Dr. Diana J. Wilkie

  2. School of Medicine, University of Washington, Box 356390, Seattle, WA, USA

    Stuart J. Farber MD

Authors
  1. Dr. Diana J. Wilkie
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  2. Stuart J. Farber MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Diana J. Wilkie .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA

    Ronda C. Talley

  2. School of Nursing, Yale University, New Haven, USA

    Ruth McCorkle

  3. Department of Behavioral Science, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer, Houston, USA

    Walter F. Baile

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Wilkie, D.J., Farber, S.J. (2012). Diagnostic Issues: Family Dynamics and Caregiving for an Individual with Cancer. In: Talley, R., McCorkle, R., Baile, W. (eds) Cancer Caregiving in the United States. Caregiving: Research • Practice • Policy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3154-1_2

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