Table 5.
Summary of the variables associated with informal caregivers’ unmet needs
| Study | Demographics of caregivers | Caregivers’ physical symptom | Relationship | Patients-related | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Older | Female | Education level | Length of caregiving | Care setting | Spousal caregivers | Patients’ anxiety | Patients’ depression | Lower physical performance | ||
| [30] | -(fin, PM, soc.,) | F (+phy) M (+ inf) |
||||||||
| [32] | Conventional hospital care > hospice care (symptom management, psy support, religious support) | |||||||||
| [35] | + (overall) | +(overall) | +(overall) | +(overall) | ||||||
| [9] | – | |||||||||
| [39] | – | Home > hospital (inf) | + | |||||||
| [63] | -(soc,psy,inf) | -(psy) +(soc) |
+(soc) | + | -(inf) | |||||
Notes: “-”: negative relationship; “+”: positive relationship; “fin”: financial needs; “PM”: pain management; “soc”: social needs; “phy”: physical needs; “inf”: information needs; “overall”: overall needs