Abstract:

Objective    To explore the state of subjective burden among family caregivers for cancer patients and its associations with the caregiver′s family relationship and other sensitive factors. Methods     71 caregivers for hospitalized cancer patients were assessed by the general sociological survey, Caregiver Reaction Assessment（CRA）, Index of Family Relations （IFR）and Family Assessment Device (FAD), and 45 caregivers for general medicine as the control group were studied by CRA. Results    The burden in health (P<0.05), scheduling (P<0.01) and finances (P<0.001) of caregivers for cancer was higher than that in the control group. Higher quality of family relationship was related to lower burden in caregiver′s health (P<0.01), scheduling (P<0.05), finances (P<0.01) and family abandonment (P<0.05), while it was related to higher self-esteem (P<0.05). Affect intervention was related to lower burden in caregiver′s health (P<0.05) and family abandonment (P<0.05), while it was related to higher self-esteem. The age, marriage state, job and care time of caregivers were related to burden outcomes. Conclusions     Subjective burden of caregivers for cancer is higher than that of caregivers for general medicine. The burden is related to the caregiver′s family relationship quality, age, marriage state, job, care time and family income.

Key words: Cancer patient; Caregiver; Subjective burden; Family relationship