Family Caregivers for Cancer Patients in Thailand

This integrative review was conducted to describe findings from Thai studies concerning family caregivers for cancer patients. Twenty-three studies that were published from 1994 to 2009 were considered. There were 15 quantitative studies and 8 qualitative studies. The stress and coping model developed by Lazarus and Folkman was the most popular theory that was used to guide the studies. The variables that were explored in the quantitative studies consisted of social support, stress, coping, caregiver burden, quality of life (QOL), and others. The qualitative findings revealed that there were several themes such as the following: the meaning of being family caregivers for cancer patients, the meaning of care, the experiences of caregivers, and the problems and needs of family caregivers in the Thai context. The evidence from the 23 studies reviewed showed that the state of knowledge of cancer caregivers in the Thai context is at an early stage compared with the state of knowledge in Western countries. More research needs to be done to explore the concepts related to negative and positive outcomes of caregiving.