Table 3.

Main theme, categories and subcategories developed during data analysis.

Main themes	Subthemes	categories	subcategories
Progressive Exhaustion	Care challenges	Job challenges
		Family challenges
		Sexual challenges	The oblivion of sexual needs Sexual needs' replacement with social activities The effect of patients' conditions on the sexual status
	Psychological vulnerabilities	The psychological impact of long-term care
		Difficulty in accepting the situation by the patient
		Stress caused by the patients' physical and psychological statues
	Chronic nature of care	Constant distress
		A permanent involvement in caring
		Progressive nature of problems
		The physical impact of long-term care
	Care in the shade	Difficulty in understanding the situation of caregivers

Difficulty of the position of the caregivers compared to the patients.