The Caregiver Burden,Social Support,Quality Of Life Among Primary Caregivers Of People With Cancer

OBJECTIVETo investigate the current status of quality of life and burden,and social support of primary caregivers of cancer patients,and to analyze the influencing factors and related relationships of quality of life and burden,and social support of primary caregivers.METHODSA cross-sectional study design was used to select 270 primary caregivers of cancer patients hospitalized in a tertiary care hospital in Wuxi City,Jiangsu Province by convenience sampling between September 2020 and December 2021.A general data questionnaire,caregiver burden rating scale(CBI),social support rating scale(SSRS),and World Health Organization Quality of Life Inventory Short Form(WHOQo L-BREF)were used to investigate their burden,social support,and quality of life status.The influencing factors of quality of life were analyzed by univariate analysis,correlation analysis,and multiple linear regression;the mediation effect was tested using the bootstrapping method.RESULTS(1)The main caregiver quality of life score was 61.26(57.69 ～ 64.90)points,the care burden score was 41.00(35.75 ～ 43.00)points,and the social support score was 36.00(33.00～ 39.00)points;the burden score was moderate in 65% and the social support score was low in 30.7%.(2)Correlation analysis showed that the quality of life of the main caregivers was positively correlated with social support(P < 0.01)and negatively correlated with caregiver burden(P < 0.01);caregiver burden was negatively correlated with social support(P < 0.01).(3)Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the main treatment regimen(chemotherapy and radiotherapy,other regimens),clinical stage,tumor course,whether the diagnosis recurred,and the burden of the main caregiver of the patients all affected the quality of life,and these variables explained a total of 78.0% of the degree of variation in the quality of life.(4)Mediation effect analysis showed that the negative effect of burden on quality of life was significant(P < 0.001).However,when the mediating variable social support was placed,the negative effect of burden on quality of life remained significant(P < 0.001).CONCLUSION(1)The main treatment plan,clinical stage,tumor duration,burden,and whether this diagnosis recurs may be the influencing factors of the quality of life of the main caregivers of cancer patients.(2)Quality of life is positively correlated with social support and negatively correlated with burden;burden is negatively correlated with social support.(3)Burden can not only directly affect the quality of life,but also play a mediating role through social support to affect the quality of life.Among them,the mediating effect of social support accounted for 20.98%.