The report, from the National Alliance for Caregiving in partnership with the National Cancer Institute and the Cancer Support Community, draws on a nationally representative data set to identify the special challenges of a friend or family member caring for a loved one with cancer. Highlights include:

• Approximately 2.8 million people are caring for someone whose main problem or illness is cancer.
• The typical cancer caregiver is a 53 year old woman, typically with less than a college degree and less than $75,000 in household income.
• Most cancer caregivers support a relative (88%), usually a parent or parent-in-law (44%), a spouse or partner (16%) or a sibling or sibling-in-law (14%).
• A primary role of cancer caregivers is to interact with health care providers, agencies, and professionals on behalf of their loved one – 82% communicate with health care professionals on behalf of the care recipient, 76% monitor the severity of their loved one’s condition, and 62% advocate on behalf of their care recipient with providers, community services, and government agencies.
• A high majority of cancer caregivers (80%) report that the care recipient has been hospitalized at least once in the past year, an event significantly less common among non-cancer caregivers (52%).
• Cancer caregivers typically have “helpers” in care – almost eight in ten report that their loved one lives with another person and seven in ten report that others help provide unpaid care.
• The typical cancer caregiver provides care for just under two years (1.9) compared to caregivers for other conditions, who typically provide care for an average of 4.1 years.
• Cancer caregivers, on average, are spending 32.9 hours a week providing care to their loved one and nearly a third of cancer caregivers provide care for 40 hours a week or more.
• Compared to non-cancer caregivers, cancer caregivers are much more likely (72%) to be conducting medical and nursing tasks for their loved one. More than four in ten of these caregivers provide help with medical and nursing tasks without any prior training or instruction.
• Caring for someone with cancer is more emotionally stressful than other types of caregiving – 50% of cancer caregivers report that they felt “highly stressed.” Four in ten caregivers report that they need help managing emotional and physical stress.
• One ongoing challenge for cancer caregivers is the need for support during advanced stages of illness, with 40% of caregivers indicating that they needed help making end-of-life decisions.