This week, Bobbi Conner talks with Dr. Amanda Kastrinos about young adults caring for parents with cancer. Dr. Kastrinos is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences and a researcher at Hollings Cancer Center at MUSC.
TRANSCRIPT:
Conner: I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio with Health Focus here at the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. When young adults become cancer caregivers for a parent or another loved one, they often face a unique set of challenges. Doctor Amanda Kastrinos is here to talk about young adult caregivers in this scenario. Doctor Kastrinos is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences, and she's a researcher at Hollings Cancer Center at MUSC. Doctor Kastrinos, you have worked individually with many young adult caregivers through your various research projects. What are some of the unique challenges that young people in particular face as cancer caregivers?
Dr. Kastrinos: I think the biggest challenge is that they're just not the typical caregiver. This is not the time in our lives that you usually become a caregiver. So, they're kind of having to juggle the demands of caregiving, along with all of the developmentally appropriate things that they're supposed to be doing. So, you know, going to school, starting a career, pursuing romantic relationships, and starting families of their own. You know, in order to take care of a loved one with cancer, which is really time consuming and really demanding, you might have to move back and put all that on hold. Probably one of the biggest things I've heard from young adult caregivers in my research is, I really wish I could meet other people that were going through this. I really want to talk to other people who are going through the same thing.
Conner: In your current research role, I understand that you're developing and testing a support program for young adult caregivers. Tell us about this research project.
Dr. Kastrinos: I have a grant from the National Cancer Institute to take an existing caregiving support program and adapt it so that it meets the specific needs of young adults who take care of their parents with cancer. It addresses some of the kind of interpersonal conflict that comes when, you know, a young adult is having to kind of switch roles and provide care to their parent. We're currently in the development phase, and in the next year we'll be starting to test it. And then hopefully it's something that can be implemented for this population.
Conner: And I'm wondering from your perspective, how do you feel a tailored support group might really be beneficial?
Dr. Kastrinos: The goal of a support group is to connect with other people who are going through the same thing, to feel understood and feel like you're not alone in this experience. And if you are a young adult cancer caregiver and you kind of walk into a regular support group, it's going to be primarily people who are, you know, decades older than you, probably caring for a spouse and just dealing with a very different set of issues than what you're experiencing. I've had young adult caregivers tell me in a ton of different research projects that, you know, they try going to a support group, and it just wasn't helpful because they couldn't relate to what anybody was saying. They weren't able to kind of find that connection, because their experience was so different from what everyone else in the group was experiencing.
Conner: And how do you envision this research might be used, or how might it be helpful once this project is actually completed?
Dr. Kastrinos: Right now, if you're a young adult caregiver and you're looking online or you're looking at the hospital services for support, that's kind of going to address what you're going through, you're not going to find much. So, the ultimate goal if the program is successful is to make it available here at MUSC and at other hospitals, and just kind of start to fill that critical resource gap for this population.
Conner: Doctor Kastrinos, thanks so much for talking with me about young adult cancer caregivers.
Dr. Kastrinos: Thank you.
Conner: From the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio.
Health Focus transcripts are intended to accurately represent the original audio version of the program; however, some discrepancies or inaccuracies may exist. The audio format serves as the official record of Health Focus programming.
