Background: A large number of studies have shown that the assignment of long-term care duties brings great pressure and negative emotions to caregivers of cancer patients, and also affects the quality of care.Lazarus and Folkman's stress and coping theory holds that the process of cognition and evaluation of stress is key to the stress response when a stressor acts on individuals. This study is to explore the mediating effect of benefit finding between caregiver burden and anxiety-depression of esophageal cancer caregivers, according to a model hypothesis constructed based on stress and coping theory. The design of this study involved correlation and theoretical testing using a structural equation model.Methods: A total of 228 pairs of esophageal cancer patients from 2 tertiary hospitals and their family caregivers were recruited in this study from May 2020 to January 2021. A questionnaire survey was conducted using the general information questionnaire, the caregiver burden inventory (CBI), the benefit finding scale (BFS), and the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS).Results: A good fitting model [chi-square (χ 2 )/degrees of freedom (df) =2.212, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) =0.07, comparative fit index (CFI) =0.976, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) =0.964, goodness of fit (GFI) =0.954, normed fit index (NFI) =0.957] indicated the mediating effect of benefit finding between caregiver burden and anxiety-depression of esophageal cancer caregivers. A higher level of benefit finding had a negative effect on caregiver burden and anxiety-depression, which reduced the burden and psychological distress of caregivers. The theoretical hypothesis was validated.Conclusions: Clinical nurses should pay attention to the benefit finding level of caregivers. For caregivers with low-level of benefit finding, intervention measures should be taken to improve the psychological cognitive level of caregivers, which can ultimately improve the quality of life of patients.

Background: Cancer caregivers are the main supporter for the tumor patients, they not only need to provide daily nursing to the patients, but also suffering the pressure from economy, emotion and even family members. The mental health of tumor patient is mostly noticed, while not caregivers. The mental health of caregiver greatly affected the nursing quality and even the treatment outcomes. In the current study, the mechanisms underlying the links between caregiver burden, benefit finding, mental health, and rumination in those caring for people with esophageal cancer were examined. Methods:The study was using a convenience sampling, 166 esophageal cancer patients in 2 general hospitals in Jiangsu Province, China, and caregivers of patients were included after excluded the nonconforming patients. Data were collected using investigator-developed questionnaires, the Benefit Finding Scale (BFS), the Event-Related Rumination Inventory (ERRI), the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) during May 2020 to December 2020. The results were analyzed by SPSS, and the chain mediating effect was analyzed by the the SPSS PROCESS Macro Model. Results:The study comprised 166 caregivers with an average age of (59.96±11.48) years, most of them were female (85.5%). The ZBI was positive correlated with HADS (r=0.882, P<0.01), and negative correlated with BFS (r=−0.873, P<0.01). Intrusive rumination and deliberate rumination in caregivers were negatively correlated (r=−0.901, P<0.01) and positive correlated (r=0.904, P<0.01) with BFS scores, respectively. Furthermore, research have discovered a chain mediation impact of benefit finding and rumination between caregiver burden and psychological well-being among carers of esophageal cancer patients. Conclusions:The findings of this study imply that benefit finding and rumination are crucial components of the coping strategy used to buffer against negative emotion (such as anxiety and depression). Therefore, the mental health of caregivers should also be noticed, and health care professionals should provide targeted interventions to increase the caregiver's level of benefit finding and promote deliberate ruminative thinking.

Background: Due to individual heterogeneity, patients at the same stage of colorectal cancer (CRC) who receive the same chemotherapy may experience different symptom clusters. Identifying the precise factors that predict symptom clusters is of great clinical significance for precision care and for improving the quality of life of patients. The present study investigated the relationship between serum biomarkers and adjuvant chemotherapy-related symptom clusters in radically resected CRC patients. Methods: Serum biomarkers and clinical/pathological characteristics of the radical resected CRC patients were collected before the first cycle of adjuvant chemotherapy. A demographic questionnaire and M.D.Anderson Gastrointestinal Cancer Symptom Scale (MDASI-GI) were performed on the third day after chemotherapy and exploratory factor analysis was performed to determine the symptoms clusters. Multiple linear regression and correlation analysis were also performed to evaluate the correlation between serum biomarkers and chemotherapy-related symptom clusters.Results: A total of 4 chemotherapy-related symptom clusters were determined in the enrolled radical resected CRC patients, including a fatigue-psychological symptom cluster, gastrointestinal symptom cluster, neurotoxic symptom cluster, and constipation-abdominal distension symptom cluster. Further analysis showed that the gastrointestinal symptom cluster was significantly associated with age, gender, weight change status, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and body mass index (BMI). Additionally, the fatiguepsychological symptom cluster was found to be significantly associated with high NLR. The neurotoxic symptom cluster was found to be significantly associated with low hemoglobin level.Conclusions: Serum biomarkers and clinical characteristics of the radical resected CRC patients could be used to predict chemotherapy-related symptoms clusters.