Quality of life and its related factors in caregivers of patients with breast cancer / 中国实用护理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To exam the quality of life of the caregivers of patients with breast cancer, to explore their related factors, including medical characteristics of the patients, demographic characteristics of the caregivers, relationship with the patients, social support and psychological resilience, and to test the mediating and moderating roles of psychological resilience between social support and quality of life. Methods A total of 179 hospitalized patients diagnosed with breast cancer were recruited in Qilu Hospital of Shandong University. The self-designed demographic questionnaire, Medical Outcome Study 12-Item Short Form Health Survey,Version 2(SF-12V2), Perceived Social Support Scale(PSSS), and 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale(CD-RISC-10) were used to collect information about demographic characteristics and measure the quality of life, perceived social support and psychological resilience of the caregivers. The factors affecting the quality of life of the caregivers were analyzed by multiple linear regression analysis, and the mediating and regulating effects of mental resilience on social support and mental health were analyzed. Results The age of the caregivers was negatively correlated with the physical health (P=0.010). The score of the body health of the family members of the middle and late stage cancer patients was lower than that of the family members in the early stage (P=0.003). There was a positive correlation between friend support and resilience and mental health (P<0.01). Resilience played a moderating role and mediating role in the relationship between friend support and mental health. Conclusions Attention should be paid to the quality of life of caregivers in patients with breast cancer. The medical staff should provide more social support for the caregivers, and should pay more attention to improve the psychological resilience of the caregivers, guide them to better cope with the burden and pressure of care, and improve their mental health with half the effort.