Exploring the associations between spiritual well-being, burden, and quality of life in family caregivers of cancer patients

Abstract

This is a cross-sectional study. All participants (n = 199) underwent the following self-report questionnaires: the SWB-Index, the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form, and the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI). SWB scores were dichotomized at a cutoff corresponding to the 75th percentile. Statistical analyses were made using the Student t or by chi-square test to compare high and low SWB groups.ResultThe high SWB group reported significantly better Medical Outcomes Study Short Form scores in bodily pain (p = 0.035), vitality (p < 0.001), social activities (p = 0.001), mental health (p < 0.001), and in standardized mental component subscales (p < 0.001) than the low SWB group. No significant differences were detected between the two SWB groups in physical activity, physical role, general health, emotional status, and standardized physical component scale. The high SWB group also had better CBI scores in the physical (p = 0.049) and developmental burden (p = 0.053) subscales. There were no significant differences in the other CBI scores (overall and sections).Significance of resultsThis study points out that high SWB caregivers have a more positive QoL and burden. Knowledge of these associations calls for more attention on the part of healthcare professionals toward spiritual resources among family cancer caregivers from the moment of diagnosis and across the entire cancer trajectory.

Current Advances in Palliative & Hospice Care: Problems and Needs of Relatives and Family Caregivers During Palliative and Hospice Care—An Overview of Current Literature

“…Regarding the year of publication, 36 out of 62 articles were published in 2017 and 28 in 2018. Countries where the respective studies were conducted were the USA/Canada ( n = 23) [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31], Scandinavia ( n = 7) [32,33,34,35,36,37,38], UK ( n = 4) [39,40,41,42], Germany ( n = 4) [43,44,45,46], Southern Europe (Italy, Portugal, Spain; n = 8) [47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54], East Asia (Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan; n = 4) [55,56,57,58,59,60], Australia/New Zealand ( n = 4) [61,62,63,64], other ( n = 4) [65,66,67,68], and multinational ( n = 2) [69,70].…”

“…Forty-seven studies reported on relatives of advanced cancer patient’s [9,10,11,13,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,34,36,37,38,39,42,43,44,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,65,66,67] and 15 studies included relatives of mixed patient samples [12,14,25,33,35,40,41,45,54,62,63,64,68,69,70]. The environment in which the patient received palliative or hospice care were home care in 18 studies [10,14,25,26,27,30,3...…”

The Relationship Between Social Support, Spirituality With Stress Towards the Burden of Family Caregivers of Cancer Patients: A Literature Review

“…The increasing of caregiving burden will reduce the quality of life of caregivers. The high spirituality can reduce the level of stress and the caregiving burden felt by the family caregivers of cancer patients (7).…”

“…Spirituality is a broader search for the meaning of life, which involves universal power as a guide (7). Spirituality is a quality inherent in humans that refers to search, expressions of meaning and purpose and how to experience the connection to events, oneself, others, nature, something essential or sacred (20).…”

“…The difficulty faced by caregivers every day encourages the need for support and assistance where if not fulfilled, it will cause an increase in stress (6). Spiritual well-being can be used as a coping for the family caregivers to the stressors, for example, at the time of diagnosis or throughout the cancer patients trajectory (7). Social support, spirituality, and stress are essential variables that are possible to influence the caregiving burden felt by the family caregivers of cancer patients.…”