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Articles

Physical and mental health trajectories of cancer patients and caregivers across the year post-diagnosis: a dyadic investigation

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Pages 655-674 | Received 08 Jul 2015, Accepted 09 Dec 2015, Published online: 09 Feb 2016
 

Abstract

Objective: Evidence suggests interdependence between cancer patients’ and their caregivers’ physical and mental health. However, the extent to which caregivers’ health relates to their patients’ recovery, or patients’ health affects their caregivers’ outcomes, is largely unknown. This dyadic investigation reports the relations between cancer patients’ and their caregivers’ physical and mental health trajectories during the year following diagnosis.

Design: Ninety-two colorectal cancer patient–caregiver dyads completed questionnaires at 2, 6 and 12 months post-diagnosis.

Outcome measures: Self-reported physical and mental health using the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form Health Survey-12.

Results: Patients reported improved physical health over the year following their diagnosis, whereas caregivers reported declining physical health. Patients with lower mental health at diagnosis had stagnated physical health recovery. Caregivers’ physical health declined most noticeably among those reporting low mental health at diagnosis and whose patients reported low physical health at diagnosis.

Conclusion: Findings suggest targeting health interventions to cancer patients and caregivers reporting poor mental health at diagnosis may mitigate their long-term physical morbidity. Limited evidence of dyadic interdependence between patients’ and caregivers’ physical and mental health trajectories suggests future studies are warranted to identify psychosocial and medical characteristics moderating the relations between patients’ and caregivers’ health.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the American Cancer Society National Home Office, intramural research, and the National Cancer Institute [grant number 1 F31 CA189431–01A1].

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