Vicario, Jazmin (2022) How Caring for Someone with Cancer Affects the Health Behaviours and Wellbeing of Caregivers Living in Regional and Remote Areas. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Informal cancer caregivers (e.g., family and friends) who reside in regional and remote areas of Australia tend to face greater challenges in their caregiving role than their urban counterparts with limited access to local support services and the need to travel long distances to receive treatment. As this can lead to greater caregiver burden, supporting the health and wellbeing of caregivers living in these areas is a priority to enable them to continue to provide their vital care. This qualitative study aimed to explore the effect that cancer caregiving has on the health behaviours and wellbeing of caregivers living in regional and remote areas. A total of five female informal cancer caregivers residing in regional areas of Australia volunteered to take part in semi-structured interviews. In these interviews, caregivers were asked to describe their experience of caring for someone with cancer and how this role affected their health behaviours (e.g., diet, exercise, sleep, substance use, participation in recreational activities), as well as their mental and physical wellbeing. Interview transcripts were coded, and thematic analysis was used to identify themes within the codes. These themes were then mapped to the Socioecological Framework to identify areas of priority for future intervention. As only regional caregivers volunteered to take part in the current study, the findings could only be related to regional caregivers. The findings indicated positive and negative changes to health behaviours and wellbeing with caregiver burden and the demands of travel most influential to these changes. Many caregivers reported that their diet, sleep, and engagement in recreational activity were suboptimal. These changes had a negative impact on physical and mental wellbeing. Other health behaviours improved, for example, incidental physical activity often increased which had positive impacts to physical fitness. Additionally, alcohol consumption and tobacco uses were often reduced which were considered by participants as positive outcomes to caregiving. Overall, the findings suggest that intervention is needed to support the health and wellbeing of cancer caregivers living in regional areas. Future efforts could focus on ways to reduce caregiver burden and minimise the implications of travel and extended time away from home.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
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| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Current – Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Wellbeing (1 Jan 2022 -) |
| Supervisors: | Michael Ireland; Belinda Goodwin; Elizabeth Johnston |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 06 Aug 2025 03:12 |
| Last Modified: | 06 Aug 2025 03:12 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Cancer caregiving; Health behaviours; Regional and Remote; Socioecological Framework; Thematic analysis; Wellbeing; Qualitative |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52844 |
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