Predictors of the relationship between the duration of cancer and care time with the supportive care needs of patients and the quality of life of their caregivers: a path analysis

Abstract

Background Breast cancer patients face various material, and the mutual impact of patients and caregivers on each other show the need for further supportive care from the community and family. This study aimed to identify the predictors of the direct and indirect relationships of the duration of cancer and care time with the supportive needs of the patients and the quality of life of their family caregivers.Methods This descriptive-analytical study was carried out on 150 patients and their caregivers in Iran. Data were collected using the Supportive Care Needs Survey-short form (SCNS-SF34), the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer (CQOLC) scale, and a socio-demographic checklist and were then analyzed in SPSS-24 and Lisrel-8.8 software using descriptive-analytical statistics and path analysis. ResultsThe mean age of the patients and caregivers was 45.76±10.44 and 43.46±9.5, respectively.Based on the test results, the duration of cancer was positively correlated with the total score of supportive needs in both paths (B=0.799). The patients' sexuality needs had the highest negative correlation with their duration of cancer in the direct path (B=-0.87) and psychological needs the highest negative correlation in the indirect path (B=-0.32). The care time (in hours) had the highest positive correlation with the total score of supportive needs (B=15.6) in both the direct and indirect paths, and the highest positive correlation with physical needs in the direct path (B=10.65). The caregivers' quality of life had a negative and direct relationship with the duration of cancer (B=-0.27) and there was a positive and direct relationship between care time and the caregivers' quality of life (B=3.09).Conclusions Duration of cancer and care time had the highest positive correlation with the patients' supportive needs, and the caregivers' quality of life had a negative correlation with the duration of cancer and a positive correlation with care time. It is therefore vital to emphasize the design and implementation of supportive care programs for breast cancer patients and their family caregivers.

Quality of life among family caregivers of cancer patients: an investigation of SF-36 domains

“…Sociodemographic factors such as age, gender, education status, occupation, and income, as well as cancer clinical characteristics, and different treatment strategies have previously been demonstrated to be some of the predicting factors for QoL among this population [ 3 , 5 ]. Regarding the duration of caregiving, the positive correlation between care time and caregivers’ QoL has previously been reported in a population of Iranian caregivers of breast cancer patients [ 6 ].…”

The demands of caregivers of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in different therapy stages and the exploration of possible interventions: A longitudinal investigation survey at a Tertiary Medical Institution

“…Qualitative studies are more widely reported, while the targeted, comprehensive and systematic assessment is rarely reported. There are few studies that focus on the needs of family caregivers at different stages of treatment (Attari et al, 2022). In this study, we focused on family caregivers of children with leukaemia, analysing all caregivers of children with ALL treated in our hospital from March to December 2020.…”