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ABSTRACT
Research suggests that caregivers to cancer patients may be particularly vulnerable to the experience of loneliness. The current study compared the loneliness experienced by those caring for hospitalized cancer patients who were receiving treatment, and caregivers of cancer patients in a hospice, on their death bed. Analyses revealed that there was no significant difference in the quality of loneliness experienced by caregivers of the two groups, but found a significant interaction effect with gender. Women attending to the ill scored higher on all subscales than did men, and those women attending to the ill patients scored higher than women attending to the dying on the Growth and discovery, Interpersonal isolation, and self-alienation subscales.
Keywords: Caregivers, loneliness, cancer, patients, treatment, hospice, hospitalization
Cancer, during the treatment phase and beyond, produces physical changes that may be averse to others (Wortman & Dunkel-Schetter, 1979). For example, during treatment, patients may experience bleeding tendencies, hair loss, mouth sores, and unattractive skin reactions (Steams, Lauria, Hermann, & Fogelberg, 1993). Avoiding open communication about the disease by patients, family members, and medical personnel in order to avoid further distress may also explain the lack of social interaction that patients and their caregivers experience (Cohen, 1985; Holland, 1977; Silberfarb & Greer, 1982). Singer (1983) asserted that because it is part of human nature to avoid pain, cancer patients and their families often experience tremendous difficulty relating to each other and working with the problem at hand in a constructive way.
Finally, as the cancer progresses, opportunities for social activities decrease due to disabilities caused by the disease (Bloom & Spiegel, 1984). Friedman et al. (1989), observed that approximately 50% of their 60 sick participants felt their loneliness was associated with illness or illness-related situations.
The present study focused on the loneliness experienced by those who care for the patients: those who care for hospitalized cancer patients, and the caregivers who were accompanying patients with terminal cancer in their last leg of the journey, while they were hospitalized in the hospice.
Approximately 65 million Americans serve as caregivers for an ill adult (National Family Caregiver Alliance, 2009), with this role commonly assumed by family members. It is predicted that within the next 50 years, the total number of cancer cases...