Background: Caregivers of cancer patients in South West Nigeria are confronted daily with highly stressful responsibilities involving both physical and emotional demands. The intense weight of these demands could be felt as psychological distress such as pain, anxiety, depression, shame, fear, loss of interest, self-isolation, sadness and hopelessness. Previous studies focused on the psychological well-being of cancer patients with less emphasis on their caregivers. This study, therefore, was carried out to determine the unmet needs of caregivers, their sources of burden, types of burden they encounter, their coping mechanisms, and the effects of care giving on their wellbeing.
Method: The study adopted a qualitative exploratory descriptive research design. 59 participants, who were eligible to participate in the study were recruited. Six sessions of the focused group discussions were conducted for the participants from the three cancer treatment centres. Ethical approval was obtained from the cancer centres review boards. Data were collected and transcribed verbatim using thematic content analysis.
Results: Majority of participants were male 58.6%, most of them were looking after with breast (24.1%) and cervical cancer patients. They were within the age range of 34-45, most of them were married 55.93% and majority of them had first degrees
Seven themes emerged from the data, emotional suffering, difficulty in coping with cancer patients, financial challenges, social isolation, family tension and conflicts, and unfriendly hospital environment, such as being subjected to harsh relationship with health workers.
Conclusion: It was recommended that psycho-education on the burden of cancer, needs of the caregiver and coping mechanisms should be routinely given to the caregivers of the cancer patients