Impact of Caregiving on Various Aspects of the Lives of Caregivers

Abstract

ObjectiveThis study was designed to assess the impact of caregiving on the lives of the caregivers.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted between July and September 2015 at a teaching hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Participants who were more than 18 years old and were involved in caregiving (former or current) of a family member were invited to participate in the study. The participants were recruited through consecutive sampling technique. A total of 400 caregivers were interviewed. Written informed consent was obtained from all the participants. A pretest structured questionnaire was used for data collection and included sections on demographic details and impact of caregiving on various aspects of the lives of caregivers. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 19 (IBM, NY, USA).ResultsInformation about a total of 400 caregivers (215 men and 185 women) was included in the final analysis. The majority (57.0%) of the participants were aged between 18 and 30 years. About three-fifths (60%) of the participants were single and the majority of the participants were students. Approximately 64% of the participants were currently involved in caregiving and about 48% of the participants responded that caregiving has an overall negative impact on various aspects, such as physical (40.8%), psychological (47.8%), and professional aspects (51.8%) of their lives.ConclusionNegative impact of caregiving was observed among caregivers due to extensive demands of caregiving and limited resources. Therefore, it is imperative for health care providers to explore, identify and support caregivers to cope in a better way to the challenging task of caregiving.

Relationships between caregiving stress, mental health and physical health in family caregivers of adult patients with cancer: implications for nursing practice

“…This might be because of the high rate of non-Saudi participants in this study who mostly have limited income and incur higher support expenses. Previous studies showed that a family caregiver of an adult patient with cancer who incurs higher expenditure on caregiving and has a lower monthly income showed a higher level of caregiving stress (13,33,37). This agrees with our findings.…”

“…Older family caregivers had the lowest mean score for physical health and the highest mean score for caregiving stress. These values are consistent with previous studies among Pakistani, Hispanic and African American family caregivers (15,33). This study also found that lower levels of education were correlated to higher levels of caregiving stress.…”

“…As expected, the study findings revealed that there were moderate negative correlations between the levels of caregiving stress and family caregivers' physical and mental health. This is consistent with previous studies' findings suggesting that family caregivers may be particularly vulnerable due to care‐related stress that can affect their physical and mental health and aggravate existing health‐related problems, such as coronary heart diseases, headache, depression, anxiety and insomnia 17,33. A meta‐analysis of the effects of caregiving on mental and physical health has also indicated that physical health problems and a higher level of depression were noted among family caregivers versus noncaregivers 42.…”

“…These variables are the main sources of caregiving stress. For example, more than half of the family caregivers reported that they had financial problems while caring for their adult patients with cancer; similar responses were documented in a questionnaire concluding that caregiving leads to significant financial stress, and other social responsibilities can be difficult to fulfil (33). A high socio-economic status and a good income are believed to have a reduced impact on family caregivers' financial constraints.…”

“…This might have been consolidated by social expectations that demand that women devote themselves to the care of the family members especially the ill person. However, according to Irfan (33) most Iranian caregivers were males. Men mainly provide financial support according to tradition and culture.…”