Warunee Phligbua. Factors predicting health status of family caregivers of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy . Master's Degree(Adult Nursing). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2005.
Factors predicting health status of family caregivers of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy
Abstract:
The present descriptive study aimed at investigating the effect of hope, preparedness,
and worry from caring on health status of caregivers of cancer patients undergoing
chemotherapy. The stress and coping theory of Lazarus & Folkman (1984) was used as a
conceptual framework. The subjects consisted of 90 primary family caregivers who had taken
care of patients after the patients had received chemotherapy at least once and who took the
patients for treatment at the Chemotherapy and Blood Transfusion Unit, Siriraj Hospital and
the National Cancer Institute from March to August, 2004. Data were collected by means of
interviews based on the Demographic Characteristic Questionnaire, Herth Hope Index,
Preparedness Questionnaire, Worry from Caring Questionnaire, and Short Form Health
Survey. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product moment correlation,
and multiple regression analysis.
The findings revealed that 66.7% of the caregiver subjects were female, their mean
age was 43.50 years, and 44% were spouses of the patients. Also, 66.7% had an income of
10,000 baht per month on average, which was sufficient with savings. As regards health
status, 43.4% had health problems prior to caregiving, and 38.9% developed health problems
after caregiving. Moreover, the subjects had perceived hope (mean = 40.60; S.D. = 4.33),
preparedness (mean = 23.46; S.D. = 4.70), and health status (mean = 2787.97; S.D. = 408.41)
at a rather high level, whereas they had worry from caring (mean = 38.87; S.D. = 11.06) at a
rather low level. In addition, it was found that worry from caring was negatively related to
health status (r = -.494, p < .001) and could predict health status of caregivers in 24.5% the
sample, while hope was positively associated with health status of caregivers (r = .433, p <
.001) and could predict health status in an additional 10.2%. Finally, preparedness was
positively related to health status of caregivers (r = .320, p < .001), but it could not predict
caregivers’ health status.
Based on these findings, it is recommended that nurses should assess health status of
caregivers before they perform caregiver roles and receive advice on caregiving. This will
prevent health deterioration due to caregiving, especially for those who have existing health
problems. Furthermore, information and advice should be continuously provided to caregivers,
and nurses should try to uplift their spirit and morale while giving them realistic hope in
addition to offering knowledge and necessary skill training to ensure their readiness to care for
the patients. Finally, other family members should be encouraged to cooperatively take care
of the patients so that the primary caregivers’ level of stress can be reduced and health
problems can be prevented, enabling them to effectively continue playing their role of
caregivers