Factors Associated With Resilience Among Primary Caregivers of Patients With Advanced Cancer Within the First 6 Months Post‐Treatment in Taiwan: A Cross‐Sectional Study

Abstract

Purpose To identify factors associated with resilience in primary caregivers of patients with advanced oral cavity cancer within the first 6 months post‐treatment. Design A cross‐sectional study. Methods We recruited patient–primary caregiver dyads from the outpatient radiation department of a medical center in Northern Taiwan. Patients were assessed using a set of structured questionnaires to measure performance status and demographic and clinical characteristics. Primary caregivers were measured in their social support, resilience, and care characteristics. Results Of the 148 dyads surveyed, 33.8% of primary caregivers reported moderately low to moderate resilience, and 61.5% reported low resilience. Greater resilience of primary caregivers was associated with the primary caregiver factors of younger age, lower educational level, and more affectionate social support; and greater resilience was associated with the patient factors of better performance status and older age. These factors explained 40.4% of the variance in resilience. Conclusions Patients’ performance status and primary caregivers’ affectionate social support strongly influence overall resilience and each domain of resilience. Clinical Relevance Providing primary caregivers with sufficient social resources and a support group can help them cope with the demands of caregiving for loved ones with oral cavity cancer.

Trajectories of resilience and related factors in primary caregivers of patients with advanced head and neck cancer: A longitudinal cohort study

“…Scores of <120 indicate low resilience, 125–145 indicate moderately low‐to‐moderate resilience, and >145 indicate moderately high to high resilience (Wagnild & Young, 1993). This scale was translated into the Chinese language and a previous related study reported satisfactory psychometric properties (Chen et al, 2020). The Cronbach's alpha for the RS in this study was 0.88.…”

“…Major improvements in acute HNC care have resulted in more patients surviving, but many will experience long‐term difficulties in their physical and psychological function, impacting performance of activities of daily living (Chen, 2019; Chen et al, 2013); they will therefore continue to be dependent on their families during the survival period. These effects can cause physical health and mental health decline and weaken the quality of life and resilience of the primary caregiver (PC) (Chen et al, 2020).…”

“…Factors associated in the literature with PCs’ resilience include patients’ demographic‐, disease‐ and treatment‐related characteristics (Chen et al, 2020; Li et al, 2019), and PCs’ demographic and caregiving characteristics (Gibbons et al, 2019; Hwang et al, 2018; Simpson et al, 2015; Üzar‐Özçeti & Dursun, 2020). Greater resilience in patients was associated with patient's older age (Chen et al, 2020), better performance status (Chen et al, 2020), a longer time since diagnosis (Li et al, 2019), and unimodal treatment modality (Li et al, 2019).…”

“…Factors associated in the literature with PCs’ resilience include patients’ demographic‐, disease‐ and treatment‐related characteristics (Chen et al, 2020; Li et al, 2019), and PCs’ demographic and caregiving characteristics (Gibbons et al, 2019; Hwang et al, 2018; Simpson et al, 2015; Üzar‐Özçeti & Dursun, 2020). Greater resilience in patients was associated with patient's older age (Chen et al, 2020), better performance status (Chen et al, 2020), a longer time since diagnosis (Li et al, 2019), and unimodal treatment modality (Li et al, 2019). Caregiver factors associated with higher resilience are older age (Simpson et al, 2015), close relationship of spousal caregiver with the patient (Gibbons et al, 2019), better PC health (Hwang et al, 2018), lower levels of depression (Hwang et al, 2018), less anxiety (Simpson et al, 2015), greater social support (Hwang et al, 2018), lower caregiving burden (Üzar‐Özçeti & Dursun, 2020), and better quality of life (Üzar‐Özçeti & Dursun, 2020).…”

Understanding and Supporting Informal Cancer Caregivers

“…Cumulative evidence has shown that social support from friends and other family members predicts lower caregiver burden and better physical and mental health [ 60 , 63 •]. This may be attributed to the reinforcement of resilience of caregivers by social support [ 88 ]. Spousal support and family functioning are important determinants of financial burden and stress-related symptoms in parents of pediatric patients with cancer [ 89 , 90 ].…”