Concordance of patient-caregiver information in advanced cancer

Abstract

Introduction: The presence of an advanced cancer is usually one of the situations that causes a greater crisis of family stability and leads to greater interaction between family members. Sometimes the progression of the disease causes a high deterioration of the patient, puts their autonomy at risk and conditions their own decision-making. In this situation, the role of the caregiver is key in the decisionmaking process about the patient’s care plan, respecting their preferences and wishes, therefore adequate communication and concordance about the information on the disease is a priority. Objective: to assess
the concordance of the information that patients with advanced cancer and their main caregiver have,
attended by a hospital support team for palliative care, and to determine the variables that are associated
with concordance. Method: 52 patient-caregiver dyads attended by the Palliative Care Hospital Support
Team of the University Hospital of Getafe were included. The information, sociodemographic and
psychoaffective variables of the patient and main caregiver were collected through an interview.
Results: The concordance of the information between the patient and his main caregiver was 78.8% on
the diagnosis and severity; 43.5% about healing; 48.0% over the treatment objective, and 43.7% at the
end of life; being the concordance of 71.4% in not knowing neither patient nor caregiver at the end of
life. Conclusions: There is a lack of information and little concordance between the patient and their
primary caregivers. It is necessary to apply protocols that facilitate communication for professionals.
The tool used to assess the level of information allows