Prospective assessment of psychopathological symptoms and their relation to demographic factors in primary caregivers of cancer patients throughout chemotherapy.
Support Care Cancer
; 30(3): 2467-2475, 2022 Mar.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34779919
PURPOSE: The present study aims to investigate the course of psychological symptoms through chemotherapy in a sample of primary caregivers of patients with cancer and to examine all possible correlations between psychological distress and demographic characteristics. METHODS: In this prospective study, 112 primary family caregivers of cancer patients were evaluated. Symptom checklist 90 revised (SCL-90-R) was administered to assess their pathological symptoms, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to assess depression and anxiety. There was an evaluation at the beginning of chemotherapy and a second at the end of the patients' intravenous chemotherapy treatment (EOT). RESULTS: A total of 112 primary caregivers were initially enrolled in the study, and 99 (88.4%) completed it. Caregivers' psychopathology was low to moderate at both points of time (baseline and EOT). However, a considerable decrease in the Global Severity Index (GSI) emerged over time. CONCLUSIONS: At EOT, participants reported statistically significant decreases in five aspects of SCL 90, namely Depression, phobic anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, somatization, and psychoticism. A notable finding was that female caregivers were significantly more distressed, especially when providing care to a male recipient.
Key words
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Mental Disorders
/
Neoplasms
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
Support Care Cancer
Journal subject:
NEOPLASIAS
/
SERVICOS DE SAUDE
Year:
2022
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Greece