An Evaluation of Natural Environment Interventions for Informal Cancer Caregivers in the Community.

Rebecca H Lehto,Jessica Sender,Gwen Wyatt,Sara E Miller

doi:10.3390/ijerph182111124

Abstract

Home-based informal caregiving by friends and family members of patients with cancer is be-coming increasingly common globally with rates continuing to rise. Such caregiving is often emo-tionally and cognitively demanding, resulting in mental exhaustion and high perceived burden. Support for caregivers may be fostered by engagement with the natural environment. Interaction with nature is associated with mental health benefits such as stress reduction and improved well-being. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the state of the science regarding the use of nat-ural environment interventions to support caregivers of cancer patients in the community. A comprehensive scoping review using the Arksey and O’Malley framework and the Preferred Re-porting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses assessed natural environment therapies and mental health outcomes among cancer caregivers. Databases searched included CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, and Alt HealthWatch. Findings recovered a total of five studies over a 10-year period that met criteria, demonstrating a lack of empirical evidence addressing this po-tential resource to support caregivers. Often, study appraisal was not on nature exposure, but ra-ther other aspects of the projects such as program evaluation, exercise, or complementary thera-pies. Both qualitative and quantitative designs were used but sample sizes were small. Caregivers experienced beneficial results across the various studies and future work could enhance these findings.

Highlights

The natural environment has been recognized to be a source of healing and restoration for centuries [1]
As a resource that practicing oncology nurses can use to support cancer caregivers [14,28]. This peripheral and grey literature is useful in a scoping review to reveal the state of the science, and the gaps in the literature related to cancer caregivers, and the potential for nature interventions to ease the burden of cancer caregiving [13,29,30]
In studies that involved cancer caregivers, one study focused on caregivers of patients at end-of-life [33], involved cancer caregivers, study focused onand caregivers of patients end-of-life two were primarily focusedone on pediatric patients their parent caregiverat[34,35], one [33], two were primarily focused on pediatric patients and their parent caregiver [34,35], one looked at a nature intervention along with other types of complementary therapies [36], and one study involved a physical activity intervention that could include activities in the natural environment [37]

Summary

Introduction

The natural environment has been recognized to be a source of healing and restoration for centuries [1]. In the United States alone, there are an estimated three million family caregivers caring for cancer patients in the home environment [8] These caregivers provide a range of unpaid services and are engaged in multifaceted roles that place high demand on cognitive and emotional functioning. As a resource that practicing oncology nurses can use to support cancer caregivers [14,28] This peripheral and grey literature is useful in a scoping review to reveal the state of the science, and the gaps in the literature related to cancer caregivers, and the potential for nature interventions to ease the burden of cancer caregiving [13,29,30]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion