Search

Introduction: Cancer patients and caregivers have myriad unmet needs which can have detrimental consequences on their psychosocial wellbeing. This systematic review aims to identify the unmet supportive care needs of immigrant and native Chinese cancer patients and caregivers. Methods: We systematically searched various electronic databases (e.g. Scopus, CINAHL, PsycInfo, etc.) from the earliest date available until January 2018. Additional studies were identified through reference lists and citation tracking. Eligibility criteria included: (a) qualitative, quantitative and/or mixed methods studies published in English; (b) immigrant and native Chinese cancer patients and/or caregivers (age ≥18 years); (c) unmet needs and/or their correlates. Studies were assessed for their risk of bias, and a narrative synthesis of findings was performed. Results: Forty‐seven papers from 45 studies met eligibility criteria. The most prevalent area of unmet needs was health system and information. Patients most commonly desired one member of the hospital to talk to about all aspects of their care. Caregivers preferred information about the patient's prognosis and likely outcome. Anxiety was most commonly associated with higher levels of health system and information needs. Conclusion: Chinese patients and caregivers experience a range of unmet health system and information needs, which differ depending on their stage along the cancer trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qualitative meta‐synthesis is a coherent approach to answering an overarching research question by synthesising past qualitative studies so as to create new meanings from their results. We conducted a qualitative meta‐synthesis to systematically evaluate and integrate the caregiving experiences of adult children providing care for an elderly parent with cancer. The search was conducted in the databases Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Grew Literature in the Health Sciences, CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, SINOMED and China Academic Journals as well as Chinese grey literature databases (China Academic Conference Literature Database/中国学术会议文献数据库, National Science and Technology Library) from inception to June 9, 2021. Thirteen studies were included in the final synthesis. The caregiver experiences they describe are synthesised into three primary themes: care needs, care burden and care gains, with numerous secondary themes. Besides our findings that seem to align with those from studies focused on other cultures, we have highlighted three main discoveries from the synthesis that stand out in the Chinese context: (1) many sub‐themes related to specific caregiving skills; (2) a strong expectation for health professionals to improve their communication skills with family caregivers; (3) the negative and positive influences of filial piety in caregiving experiences. Our findings can help multidisciplinary healthcare teams in China support adult children as caregivers in their emphasis on improving caregiver education and training, ways of making the most of potential care gains, and ways of easing care burdens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the effect of art therapy on cancer patients' quality of life and physical and psychological symptoms. Methods: The databases PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, Clinical Trial.gov, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang and the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) were searched from their inception up to 20 August 2019. Trials examining the effects of art therapy on physical and psychological symptoms and quality of life versus a control group were included. The methodological quality of the included randomised controlled trials was assessed using the risk of bias tool of Cochrane Handbook. Meanwhile, the Newcastle‐Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale (NOS) was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the non‐randomised studies. Results: Twelve studies involving 587 cancer patients were included. The results revealed that art therapy significantly reduced anxiety symptoms (standard mean difference [SMD] = −0.46, 95% confidence interval [CI] [−0.90, 0.02], p =.04), depression symptoms (SMD = −0.47, 95% CI [−0.72, 0.21], p <.01), and fatigue (SMD = −0.38, 95% CI [−0.68, −0.09], p =.01) in cancer patients. Art therapy also significantly improved the quality of life of cancer patients (SMD = 0.43, 95% CI [0.18, 0.68], p <.01). Conclusions: Art therapy had a positive effect on quality of life and symptoms in cancer patients and can be used as a complementary treatment for cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]