Cancer Care Burden on Family Caregivers of Hematologic Cancer Patients referred to Tabriz Medical Centers, 2014

Abstract

Abstract: Introduction: providing care for hematologic cancer patients may lead to many negative complication in different aspects of life in their family caregivers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the cancer care burden on primary family caregivers of hematologic cancer patients, in physical, psychological and financial aspects. Methods: In this descriptive study, 151 primary family caregivers of hematologic cancer patients who had inclusion criteria were selected by convenience sampling. The dated gathering instrument was a modified questionnaire of World Health Organization. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 21.0. Result: the finding of this study indication mean score of participants in financial distress scale as 2.94, which showed high level of financial distress. The mean of anxiety score was 11.11, and the mean of depression was 12.47. Further analysis showed that 17.9%, 18.5%, and 63.6% of participants have no depression, borderline symptoms and clinical depression, repression, respectively. Also, 25.2%, 21.2%, and 53.6% of participants have no anxiety, borderline symptoms, and clinical anxiety, respectively, in regards to the physical dimension of quality of life, participants have moderate level of quality of life in pain and physical activity dimensions. On the other hand, the participants have low score in role impairment due to physical health dimension. Conclusion: primary family caregivers of hematologic cancer patients experience many problems in physical, and physical, psychological, and financial aspects of their life. So, developing care plan for reducing these problems seems necessary.