Individual difficulties and resources – a qualitative analysis in patients with advanced lung cancer and their relatives

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographics and participant characteristics

	Patients	Relatives
Number	9	9
Sex (male), n (%)	6 (66.6%)	3 (33.3%)
Age (years), median (range)	63 (55–79)	54 (51–66)
Relationship type: spouse	Not applicable	6 (66.6%)

Table 2 Difficulties and fields of problems

Category	Subcategory	Mentioned by
Communication and conflicts	Accusation and avoidance	pat
	Opinions and advices	rel
	Therapy and general practitioner	pat, rel
	Social isolation	rel
Home and everyday life	Impact of chemotherapy/weakness	pat, rel
	Mood swings/emotional weakness	pat, rel
	Admit nursing service	pat, rel
	Get along alone	pat
	Financial aspects	pat
	Meet obligations/manage individual things	rel
	Poor health	rel
Thinking about cancer	Worry about deterioration	pat, rel
	Loss of family members/friends	pat, rel
	Uncertainty	rel
	Bad news	rel
Treatment trajectory	Long waiting hours (while receiving chemotherapy)	pat, rel
	Discontinuity of attachment figures	pat, rel

Notes: pat, patients; rel, relatives.

Table 3 Resources and support

Category	Subcategory	Mentioned by
Family	Family in general	pat, rel
	Closeness	pat, rel
	Support: organizational behavior	pat, rel
	Support and consideration	rel
Professional caregivers	Nursing staff	pat, rel
	Psychologist	pat, rel
	Doctors/general practitioners	pat, rel
Social life	Friends and neighbors	pat, rel
	Sports club, exercise programs for cancer patients	pat, rel
	Colleagues	pat, rel
	Work and pension	rel

Notes: pat, patients; rel, relatives.