Quality of life of caregivers of breast cancer patients: a cross-sectional evaluation

Abstract

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the care-related quality of life in caregivers of breast cancer patients, to assess its association with breast cancer patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and to identify its potential predictors. Methods Caregivers of breast cancer patients at six and twelve months follow up were identified through the institutes electronic patient reported outcome measurement collection tool. The Care-related Quality of Life Instrument (CarerQoL) was used to obtain CarerQoL utility scores by applying a pre-existent set of Dutch tariffs and the CarerQoL VAS score, which represented the overall happiness of caregivers. The associations between breast cancer patients’ EQ-5D-5L and EORTC QLQ-C30 scores and caregivers’ CarerQoL scores was determined with Spearman’s correlation coefficients. Associations between log transformed CarerQol scores and patient and caregiver characteristics were analyzed with multivariable linear regression analyses. Results A total of 116 completed CarerQoL questionnaires were analyzed. Most caregivers were male spouses or partners (81.4%) with a mean age of 55.7 ± 16.4. The median CarerQoL utility score was 92.4/100 and median CarerQoL VAS was 8.0/10. We found weak correlations between CarerQoL VAS scores and patients’ EQ-5D-5L utility score (0.301, p = 0.002) and EQ VAS score (0.251, p = 0.009), and between EORTC QLQ-C30 scores and CarerQol VAS (0.339, p < 0.001) and utility score (0.236, p = 0.015). There was a negative association between chemotherapy and log-transformed CarerQoL utility score (B = − 0.063, p = 0.001) and VAS score (B = − 0.044, p = 0.038) at six months follow-up. Conclusions This study provides the first evaluation of the CarerQoL in caregivers of Dutch breast cancer patients. Caregivers’ happiness was associated with breast cancer patients’ HRQoL. Our results can be used as reference values for future care-related quality of life evaluations. Plain English Summary Breast cancer patients face many difficulties during their cancer journey and often need the support of their caregivers. Despite the fact that successfully providing informal care can have positive effects on caregivers’ wellbeing, it may also have a negative impact on their quality of life. Monitoring the quality of life using a standardized questionnaire, such as the CarerQoL questionnaire, may result in early detection of possible quality of life issues. In this study, we evaluated 116 caregivers and found overall high CarerQoL scores. The scores showed a positive relation to the patients’ quality of life. Lower CarerQoL scores at six months after surgery were found in caregivers of patients who received chemotherapy. Our research underlines the importance to include caregivers of breast cancer patients in clinical practice, provides reference values for future research, and the results can be used to manage the caregivers’ expectations prior to treatment.

Self-efficacy as mediators of the association between dyadic coping and quality of life among spousal caregiver of patients with cervical cancer

“…Caregiving-related stress can deplete spousal caregivers' emotional and psychological reserves. 51 , 52 ​In addition, participants in this study with less than an elementary school education, rural residence, low income, and ignorance of the HPV had lower QoL, and previous study also found that the QoL of caregivers was significantly correlated with monthly household income. 53 …”

Correlation Between the Frailty of Elderly Patients on Regular Haemodialysis and the Quality of Life of Their Family Caregivers: A Cross-Sectional Evaluation

“…The Cronbach's α coefficient of this scale is 0.861. 14 Social Support Re-Evaluated Scale This scale was created by Xu, with a Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.825-0.896. 15 The scale comprises the following 10 items in three dimensions: objective support (3 items), subjective support (4 items) and degree of utilisation of social support (3 items), with a total score of 12 to 64 points.…”

Investigating the Effectiveness of ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) Treatment on Mothers of Children with Cancer

“…[4,5] Among the chronic diseases of childhood, cancer is more prominent due to its high prevalence rate and its impact on the life of the child and the family. [1,6,7] Chronic illness in a child affects all aspects of family life and all family members. [8][9][10] In the past decade, teams serving children with cancer have attempted to treat childhood cancer diagnosis and treatment as a post-traumatic event for parents.…”