**1. Introduction**

The incidence and prevalence of cancer has been increasing in developing countries in the last few decades. Cancer is viewed increasingly as a chronic disease, with prolonged management and increased rates of survival, leading to long term care requirements of the patient. In developing countries like India, the primary caregiver for long-term and intensive care of a cancer patient is preferably the family member, and sometimes family member is the 'only option' available to the patient as caregiver. The caregiver is usually a close relative like parent, child, sibling, spouse or a friend. This person usually has a deep relationship with the patient and more importantly, a significant emotional co-dependence. Cancer diagnosis and treatment not only affects patients but also their family, resulting in psychological distress.

In cancer treatment, there has been a shift from in-patient care to ambulatory and out-patient care. This increases demands on the patient's caregiver towards unmet physical, psychosocial and spiritual needs of the patient. Most of the caregivers have little preparation or training to take up this role. With newer modalities of treatment, cancer patients have prolonged survival through all stages of disease, making it more of a chronic disease. These trends have definitely increased the caregiver burden. The act of caring for a sick patient is multifaceted. The caregiver needs to have dedicated time to take the patient for hospital appointments and care for disease and treatment related problems at home as well. The caregiver then may face loss of personal work due to lack of time. They may eventually develop varying degrees of emotional and psychosocial distress. There is ample literature on the palliative care needs of cancer patients. However, there is limited literature on the psychosocial needs of the relatives or caregivers of cancer patients. A significant proportion of caregivers have unmet needs for emotional support. They may have unaddressed fears regarding the patient's prognosis, disease related information and treatment details. Furthermore, caregivers of patients with advanced disease usually have distress symptoms like anxiety and depression. Caregivers face extreme demands right through the course of the cancer, survivorship and also during bereavement.
