Effects of Cancer Symptoms on Caregivers

Overview

The primary objectives are to: 1.1 identify and compare the experiences of minority and nonminority caregivers, including the prevalence and severity of physical (fatigue, sleep disturbance) and psychologic (depression, anxiety, stress) symptoms and their influence on caregiver symptom burden; and to 1.2 assess the relationship between caregiver's symptoms (physical and psychologic) and the patient's symptom's at multiple time points over the patient's treatment regimen for advanced solid tumors (lung, breast, cervical, and others). A secondary objective is to: 1.3 describe the experience of being a minority (African American/Black or Latino) or nonminority person caring for a medically underserved patient with advanced solids tumors (lung, breast, cervical, or others) over the course of the patient's treatment regimen and follow-up clinic visits.

Caregiver: If you choose to take part in this study, you will be asked to complete 3 study visits over a period of about 20 weeks (the first visit, followed by 2 more visits, usually 3-8 weeks apart). During the first and third visits, you will be asked to take part in an interview that will include questions about your experience as a caregiver to a patient with cancer. The interview will last about 30-45 minutes and will be tape recorded. The text of the interviews will be copied from the tapes to a written format. The study staff will review the content to look for key caregiver concerns and experiences. The PI and study staff will be the only ones who will have access to the tapes and transcripts. All tapes will be destroyed after the study is finished. You will also be asked to complete some brief surveys about your physical and psychological health, your reactions to being a caregiver, and your beliefs about symptoms and their control. It will take about 30-45 minutes to complete the surveys, each time. Each study visit will take about 60-90 minutes. If you can not come to the clinic, trained research study staff will contact you by telephone or by a home visit (with your permission) to complete the surveys and interview. After the last of the 3 study visits, your participation will be ended in this study. This is an investigational study. Up to 125 participants will take part in this multicenter study at 4 sites: Lyndon Baines Johnson Hospital, Ben Taub General Hospital, MD Anderson, and locations in the community identified by the participant and the study team. Up to 40 will be enrolled at MD Anderson. Patient: If you choose to take part in this study, you will be asked to complete 3 study visits over a period of about 20 weeks (the first visit, followed by 2 more visits, usually 3-8 weeks apart). During the visits, you will also be asked to complete some surveys about your physical and psychological health, your reactions to your caregiver, and your beliefs about symptoms and their control. It will take about 30 minutes to complete the surveys each time. Each study visit will take about 45 minutes. If you can not come to the clinic, trained research study staff will contact you by telephone or by a home visit (with your permission) to complete the surveys and interview. After the last of the 3 study visits, your participation in this study will end. This is an investigational study. Up to 125 patients will take part in this multicenter study at 4 sites: Lyndon Baines Johnson Hospital, Ben Taub General Hospital, MD Anderson and locations in the community identified by the participant and study team. Up to 40 will be enrolled at MD Anderson.