Exploring the factors influencing time and difficulty of tasks provided by family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer in greece

Introduction: ‘Caregiver burden’ is a term that describes the effects of the stressors associated with providing care to an ill family member. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the effects of patient and caregiver demographic, clinical and psychosocial variables on the perceptions of families experiencing burden when caring for a patient suffering from advanced cancer in Greece. Method and Material: Purposive sampling was adopted to study one hundred pairs of patients receiving palliative radiotherapy and their respective primary caregivers. Patients and caregivers were asked to complete a set of questionnaires. Univariate and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to identify potential predictors of burden. Results: Of the 100 patients who participated in the study, 63% was male, while of the 100 caregivers, 76% was female. The mean age of patients and caregivers was 63.9±12.55 and 53.3.±12.55 respectively. Caregiving burden related to time consuming tasks was associated with patient’s age (p=0.003), performance status (p=0.041), impact of cancer-related symptoms (p=0.002) and symptom interference with the function (p=0.017).The associations with caregiver’s variables were family status (p=0.009), minor child (p=0.028), anxiety (p<0.001) and depression (p=0.003). In multiple regression analyses, caregiving burden related to time was significantly predicted by caregivers’ anxiety, family status, minor child, as well as by patients’ symptoms, in a model that explained 32% of the total variance. Caregiving burden related to perceived difficulty was also associated to both patient [performance status (p=0.012), impact of cancer-related symptoms (p=0.004), symptom interference with the function (p=0.001) and anxiety (p=0.016)] and caregiver variables [gender (p=0.045), family status (p=0.035), anxiety (p<0.001) and depression (p<0.001)]. In multiple regression analyses, caregiving burden related to perceived difficulty was significantly predicted by caregivers’ depressed mood and anxiety, family status, minor child, as well as by patients’ symptoms, in a model that explained 38% of the total variance. Conclusions: The caregiving burden is related to several variables. Intervention strategies are needed to the vulnerable caregivers to help reduce burden, anxiety and depression associated with caregiving.