Supportive care needs of family caregivers of patients with cervical cancer: a latent profile analysis

Abstract To identify latent profiles of supportive care needs among family caregivers of patients with cervical cancer and explore factors associated with profile membership, as well as to compare differences in supportive-care-needs across these latent profiles. A cross-sectional study using convenience sampling was conducted from March 2024 to September 2024. 531 participants completed the Supportive Care Needs Scale, Social Support Scale, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and Caregiver Readiness Scale. Latent profile analysis was performed to identify the latent profiles of family caregivers’ supportive care needs. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine factors associated with membership in different supportive care needs latent profiles. This study identified the latent profiles of three supportive care needs of family caregivers: “High supportive care needs” ( n = 205, 38.61%), “moderate supportive care needs” ( n = 143, 26.93%), and “low supportive care needs” ( n = 183, 34.46%). Multinomial logistic regression revealed that CPS, CD-RISC, marital status, current work status, and daily care duration showed partial significant associations with profile membership, with mixed directions across pairwise profile comparisons. Marital status and daily care duration exhibited significant inter-profile associations. No statistically significant inter-profile differences were observed for the remaining covariates The supportive care needs of family caregivers of patients with cervical cancer can be divided into three latent profiles. Healthcare workers need to pay attention to family caregivers with moderate and high levels of supportive care needs, and provide corresponding support and guidance according to the characteristics of different family caregivers, so as to enhance their ability to cope with and care for patients and improve the quality of life of patients.