Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Cancer Nurs. 2018 Nov-Dec;41(6):506–512. doi: 10.1097/NCC.0000000000000535

Table 3.

Examples of Caregiver Action Plans

Asking others
  • When Uncle offers to watch her child, caregiver will ask him to watch patient so she can spend time with her child. She plans to communicate that sitting with the patient while she ran errands with her daughter would be more helpful.

  • Asking son and daughter to stay with the patient so caregiver can attend a three-day conference

  • Ask the patient to have family game night on Fridays again to stimulate family conversation and communication

  • Ask doctor to slow down when communicating

  • Ask husband for help with children so she can better attend to patient’s needs

  • Ask father’s sister to help by coming on Sundays to visit with mother (patient) so caregiver can spend quality time with her husband

Sharing information
  • Caregiver will share her need for help and support with daughter

  • Strategies for sharing information with step-father regarding patient’s chemotherapy treatment

  • Caregiver will tell in-laws that he believes holistic modalities are not realistic for patient

  • Caregiver will tell sister-in-law that her brother was diagnosed with cancer

Being Present
  • When patient isolates herself by sitting away from family, caregiver will engage in nonverbal communication strategies to “be present” with patient.

  • Recognizing when something is different with the patient

Initiating and Reinforcing Self-Care
  • Continue to improve and maintain her self-care needs

  • Schedule a doctor’s appointment for routine exam

  • Realization that yearly physical exam has not been done

  • Caregiver realizes during call that she has been crying alone and needs to talk about stress of caregiving