title: Quality of life domains important and relevant to family caregivers of advanced cancer patients in an Asian population: a qualitative study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to identify domains of quality of life (QoL) that are culturally relevant to Chinese caregivers of advanced cancer patients in Singapore and to evaluate content adequacy of currently available instruments for use in the target population.
  
  
  METHODS
  English- and Chinese-speaking caregivers of advanced cancer patients receiving care under a tertiary cancer center and/or a community hospice home care/day care provider were recruited for in-depth interviews. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. The identified domains, themes and sub-themes were compared to concepts addressed by items from five existing cancer-specific caregiver QoL instruments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighteen female and eight male caregivers aged 28-74 years participated in the study. Twenty-nine QoL themes and 59 sub-themes were identified in six domains, namely physical health, mental health, social health, spiritual health, financial health and daily life. Collectively, but not individually, the content of the five existing instruments adequately cover the physical health domain, social health domain and some themes on mental health domain for the study population. Content gaps were identified in the domains of mental health, spiritual health, daily life and financial health.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study found culturally and contextually specific themes and sub-themes about positive emotional health, spiritual health and financial health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Work, National University of Singapore, 3 Arts Link, Singapore, 117570, Singapore.
authors.forename: Geok Ling
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Mandy Yen Ling
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Ow
authors.forename: Ramaswamy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Akhileswaran
authors.forename: Grace Su Yin
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.forename: Gilbert Kam Tong
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Brandon Huat Heng
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Goh
authors.forename: Cai Fong
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Yin Bun
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: Hwee Lin
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Wee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003625:Data Collection; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000523:psychology; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012846:Singapore; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers