Understanding burden in caregivers of colorectal cancer survivors: what role do patient and caregiver factors play?

Abstract

This study investigated how both caregiver and patient factors predict different aspects of burden in colorectal cancer caregivers. One hundred and fifty-three caregiver-survivor dyads separately provided information on patient disease and treatment-related factors, and perceived global health status (EORTC QLQ30), along with caregiver socio-demographic factors, health and care-related activities. Four multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess the influence of caregiver characteristics, patient characteristics and care-related activities on four dimensions of burden from the Caregiver Reaction Assessment scale. Caregiver characteristics significantly predicted health and financial burden (11%-13% of explained variance) with comorbidity and younger age increasing this risk. Patient health, in particular global health status and the presence of a stoma, predicted all burden scores, explaining 14%-22% of variance. Care-related activities was also a significant predictor of all burden scores, explaining an additional 5%-11% of variance, with time involved in caring the most consistent predictor. Results highlight that a combination of factors influence caregiver burden. These results may be used to identify those most at risk, allowing practitioners to deliver tailored effective support. In particular, efforts to alleviate the burden of caring on caregiver schedule may be merited, given that this was the domain in which the burden was greatest.

Understanding Family Caregiver Communication to Provide Family-Centered Cancer Care

“…As the patient’s cancer and treatment-specific symptoms increase, patients’ and caregivers’ distress levels also increase, 11 caregiver physical and psychological health are negatively impacted, 12–15 and caregivers' depression and burden increases. 16 Caregiving-related health problems cause further distress within the patient-caregiver dyad 17 and caregiver depression is likely to have a direct influence on patient outcomes.…”

Are Disagreements in Caregiver and Patient Assessment of Patient Health Associated with Increased Caregiver Burden in Caregivers of Older Adults with Cancer?

“…Caregiver burden is a subjective feeling of stress that occurs when the demands of caregiving overwhelm caregiver resources to cope with those demands [2,3]. Patient factors (such as advanced cancer stage [4], health status [5], increased symptom burden, and decreased quality of life [QOL] [6][7][8]), caregiver factors (such as female gender [6,7,[9][10][11], age [5,10,[12][13][14], comorbidity [5], relationship to patient [15], education [14], and employment status [10]), and caregiving characteristics (such as increased duration of caregiving [7] and more help required by the patient [6,10,14]) are associated with increased caregiver burden. This information is typically obtained from patients or their caregivers.…”

Stress and other factors associated with colorectal cancer outpatients with temporary colostomies

“…Educational level may affect how ostomy skills are learned and performed, and efforts have been made to provide individual stoma care and treatment plans in response to the educational level of the patients (Cheng et al, 2013;Karabulut et al, 2014). The burden of colostomy assistant caregivers may have a negative effect on familial and social interactions (Maguire et al, 2018). According to the opinions of Lazarus & Folkman, self-perceived severity of diseases and changes in physical care might affect the perception of self-concept among colostomy participants.…”

“…Patients and their family members meet the process of adaptation with changing roles, tasks and interactions more often than before the onset of the cancer. For CRC patients currently having stoma and having undergone chemotherapy, their caregivers take diverse roles and tasks and time costs involved in caring (Maguire, Hanly, Hyland, & Sharp, 2018). Families report being stronger and pulling together more when the illness has progressed (Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele, Tabacco, & Robinson, 2018).…”