Factors Influencing Burden among Family Caregivers of Elderly Cancer Patients

Symptom and Sentiment Analysis of Older People with Cancer and Caregivers: A Text Mining Approach Using Korean Social Media Data

OBJECTIVES

This study examined the symptoms and emotions expressed by older adults with cancer and their caregivers in South Korean online cancer communities. It aimed to identify narrative patterns and provide insights to inform personalized care strategies.

METHODS

We analyzed 6,908 user-generated posts collected from major online cancer communities in South Korea. Keyword frequency analysis, term frequency-inverse document frequency, 2-gram analysis, and latent Dirichlet allocation-based topic modeling were applied to explore language patterns. Sentiment analysis identified 12 emotional categories, and Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to examine associations between symptoms and emotional expressions. All data were cleaned and standardized prior to analysis.

RESULTS

Many users expressed anxiety (20.63%) and depression (19.59%), frequently associated with chemotherapy and sleep disturbances. Among reported symptoms, sleep problems carried the highest negative sentiment (79.81%), underscoring their profound impact on well-being. Topic modeling consistently revealed seven recurring themes, including treatment decision-making, symptom management, and concerns about family, demonstrating the layered and personalized experiences of older cancer patients and their caregivers.

CONCLUSIONS

This study explored treatment-related and symptom-related difficulties faced by older adults with cancer. Many reported significant emotional strain, especially anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances. These findings highlight the necessity for supportive strategies addressing both psychological and physical aspects of care. Future research could investigate the utility of large language models in analyzing these narratives, provided the data is ethically managed and appropriate for such use.

Bibliometric analysis of global research on psychological well-being, subjective burden, and psychosocial support of family caregivers of cancer patients

This study delves into the realm of informal cancer caregivers. Through a meticulous bibliometric analysis, the study sheds light on the burgeoning interest in this field, with a significant focus on the psychological well-being, subjective burden, and psychosocial support for caregivers. A significant portion of the retrieved articles (n = 1366) was published after 2017 and primarily disseminated through a select number of journals. Notably, the study reveals a substantial gap in randomized controlled trials addressing interventions tailored to family caregivers, indicating a critical need for more high-quality trials to guide effective support strategies. Despite the increasing recognition of caregivers' significance, limited research collaboration was observed, emphasizing the importance of fostering collaborative efforts to address cultural differences and expand the scope of research on cancer caregivers globally. The findings underscore the urgent call for comprehensive interventions and collaborative endeavors to optimize the well-being of family caregivers.

Caregiving experiences of Korean family caregivers of cancer patients: An integrative literature review

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of Korean family caregivers of patients with cancer by reviewing recent literature.

METHODS

Five electronic databases were searched-MEDLINE, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and PubMed for English literature, and Korean Information Service System (KISS), and Research Information Sharing Service (RISS) for Korean literature for articles published from January 2010 to March 2020 using the key words cancer, caregiver, and Korean. Twenty-six articles met the inclusion criteria and remained in the final review.

RESULTS

No intervention study was found and most of studies were quantitative without theoretical/conceptual framework. All the studies were conducted with Koreans living in Korea. No previous study has been conducted with Koreans living in the U.S. or other countries. Most studies focused on caregivers' quality of life, burden, unmet needs, and resilience/adaptation/post-traumatic growth.

CONCLUSIONS

Comprehensive intervention studies focused on improving quality of life, burden, and adaptation to their complex roles as caregivers in the context of Korean culture would be helpful. Further research is needed in examining the caregiver-patient dyad interactions longitudinally to understand the dynamic complicated processes of caregiving.