Association of cancer caregiver stress and negative attribution style with depressive symptoms and cortisol: a cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE: We examined the effect of informal cancer caregiver stress and negative attribution style (NAS) on depressive symptoms and salivary cortisol. METHOD: The sample came from a hospital bone marrow unit and caregiver support organizations and included 60 informal cancer caregivers (51.7% partners) of individuals with cancer (provided care for a median of 27.5 h per week for 12 months) and 46 non-caregiver participants. In this cross-sectional study, participants completed questionnaires assessing NAS and depressive symptoms and provided saliva samples to measure cortisol. RESULTS: Linear regressions demonstrated that cancer caregiver stress (p = 0.001) and the cancer caregiver stress by NAS interaction (p = 0.017), but not NAS alone (p = 0.152), predicted depressive symptoms. Caregivers independent of their NAS and non-caregivers high in NAS reported high depression while non-caregivers low in NAS reported low depression. Neither cancer caregiver stress (p = 0.920) nor NAS alone (p = 0.114), but their interaction, predicted cortisol (p = 0.036). Higher NAS was associated with a higher cortisol in both groups while non-caregivers had higher cortisol than caregivers. CONCLUSIONS: If the findings can be replicated, consideration of NAS in existing interventions to support informal cancer caregivers in managing chronic stress appears warranted.

Repetitive Negative Thinking, Depressive Symptoms, and Cortisol in Cancer Caregivers and Noncaregivers.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the effect of informal cancer caregiving and repetitive negative thinking (RNT) on depressive symptoms and salivary cortisol levels. SAMPLE & SETTING: The sample was recruited from a hospital bone marrow unit and caregiver support organizations. It included 60 informal cancer caregivers (52% partners) of individuals with cancer who provided care for a median of 27.5 hours per week for 12 months, and 46 noncaregiver participants. METHODS & VARIABLES: In this cross-sectional study, participants completed questionnaires assessing RNT and depressive symptoms and provided saliva samples to measure cortisol levels. RESULTS: Cancer caregiving and RNT, but not the interaction, were associated with more depressive symptoms. RNT, but not cancer caregiving, was associated with salivary cortisol. A disordinal interaction effect suggests that cancer caregiving was associated with lower cortisol levels, and RNT in noncaregivers was associated with higher cortisol levels. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Given that RNT is related to depressive symptoms and cortisol, connecting cancer caregivers who experience RNT to resources and the development and evaluation of brief nurse-led interventions to reduce RNT in informal cancer caregivers seems warranted.

Relations of Subjective Social Status and Brooding with Blood Pressure.

BACKGROUND: Brooding, a type of rumination, and subjective social status (SSS) may be two interacting factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Our goal was to examine the relations of brooding and SSS with systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), two measures of CVD. We predicted that [1] brooding and SSS are each related to SBP and DBP and [2] the interaction of brooding and SSS is linked to SBP and DBP. METHOD: In this cross-sectional study, college student participants (n = 240; 58.6% female, age: M = 23.95 years, SD = 8.62) completed demographics questionnaires, the Ruminative Response Scale, and MacArthur Subjective Social Status scale, and gave blood pressure samples. RESULTS: Linear models suggested that, for participants low in SSS, high brooding and DBP were positively related. For participants high in SSS, high brooding and low DBP were negatively related. There were no relations between SSS, brooding, and SBP. CONCLUSIONS: As predicted, for individuals with low SSS, more brooding was associated with higher DBP. Yet, in individuals with high SSS, more brooding was associated with lower DBP. There was no relation between SSS, brooding, and SBP. Our results suggest that brooding may serve as diathesis for some symptoms of CVD (i.e., high DBP but not high SBP) in individuals with low SSS. We discuss how other factors, like burnout or defensive pessimism, may contribute to the relation between high SSS, high brooding, and low DBP.