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Cancer Management: Rural Dwellers and Their Spouses
| Team | Dissemination |
Overview: Purpose: Managing symptoms and the demands associated with the treatment of cancer is a major component of life for patients and their family caregivers. The ability to respond to these demands has not been well-documented. Little is known about how rural cancer patients and their spouses deal with distressing symptoms over time at home, far from health care facilities, following the completion of treatment regimens such as surgery, radiation and /or chemotherapy. Aims: The specific aims of the proposed qualitative study were to: (a) examine the most difficult symptoms reported by older rural individuals living with cancer and their spouses at three points in time during 6 months following cancer-related treatments, and (b) determine how older rural individuals living with cancer and their spouses manage the most difficult reported symptoms over time following cancer-related treatments. Methods: Using a symptom checklist and a semi-structured interview guide, participants were interviewed separately at three points in time over the course of six months following radiation treatments–on the last day of treatment in person, and at three months and six months following the completion of treatments over the telephone. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the quantitative demographic data. Question analysis, which is similar to content analysis, was done with each of the questions in the semi-structured interviews. Determining what symptoms are identified by individuals and their spouses as the most difficult is a necessary first step in exploring strategies they use in dealing with them. Results from the pilot study will help lay the groundwork for future work related to older individuals’ and their spouses’ experience with cancer in rural areas. Study participants were individuals (and their spouses) who have completed radiation treatments at a Radiation/Oncology Clinic. Four elderly couples living in rural areas participated. Individuals were selected according to the most common cancer diagnoses (lung, breast and colorectal). Because cancer occurs more frequently in persons 65 years or over, the participants were at least 65 years of age. Both the participant and spouse agreed to participate and agreed to three different interviews separately. They were able to speak and understand English, with adequate hearing and speaking ability to converse over the telephone.
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[About the Center] [Pilot Program]
[Funded Research]
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