Hope in the era of precision oncology: a qualitative study of informal caregivers' experiences.
Katherine KennyLeah Williams VeazeyAlex BroomMichelle PeterieAlexander PageBarbara PrainsackClaire E WakefieldMalinda ItchinsMustafa KhasrawZarnie LwinPublished in: BMJ open (2023)
Innovation and change in precision oncology are rapidly reconfiguring the parameters of hope for patients and caregivers, creating new and difficult relational moments and experiences in everyday life and in clinical encounters. In the context of a shifting therapeutic landscape, caregivers' experiences illustrate the need to understand hope as collectively produced, as emotional and moral labour, and as entangled in broader cultural expectations of medical advances. Such understandings may help clinicians as they guide patients and caregivers through the complexities of diagnosis, treatment, emerging evidence and possible futures in the precision era. Developing a better understanding of informal caregivers' experiences of caring for patients receiving precision therapies is important for improving support to patients and their caregivers.