Purpose: This research is a descriptive correlation study to investigate the factors affecting the burden of care on family members of cancer patients.
Method: Data were collected from 254 family members of cancer patients who were under treatment at...
Purpose: This research is a descriptive correlation study to investigate the factors affecting the burden of care on family members of cancer patients.
Method: Data were collected from 254 family members of cancer patients who were under treatment at a general hospital located in B city from Nov. 12, 2013 to Dec. 12, 2013. CRA-K (Caregiver Reaction Assessment-Korean Version; Lee Young-Seon, 2009a) was used as a research tool to measure the care burden perceived by family members of cancer patients. The Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Jeon Byeong-Jae, 1974) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS; Shin Jun-Seob, Lee Yeong-Bun, 1999) were also employed to measure the level of self-esteem and social support, respectively. The data were analyzed using the SPSS/Win 21.0 program, including analysis of real numbers, percentage, standard deviation, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe's test, Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression.
Results: A total of 254 family members of cancer patients participated in this study. The following characteristics described the largest percentage of participants: aged in the 50s (75 people, 29.5%), spouse of the patient (110 people, 43.3%), having no job (137 people, 53.9%), spent less than 5 hours per day for patient care (110 people, 43.3%), middle class infinancial status (166 people, 65.4%), having nobody to rotate with for care (142 people, 55.9%), mid-level economic burden (125 people, 49.2%), caring for patients with quite severe cancer (136 people, 53.5%), and caring for patients with high difficulty performing the activities of daily living (118 people, 46.5%). The care burden on family members of cancer patients scored 1.88 points out of 4, while self-esteem scored 3.51 out of 5. Social support was at moderate levels, with a score of 3.28 out of 5. Analysis of correlations between the care burden, self-esteem and social support of family members of cancer patients revealed that care burden had a negative correlation with self-esteem (r=-.229, p<.001) and social support (r=-.285, p<.001), while self-esteem had a positive correlation with social support (r=.433, p<.001). The level of ability of the patients to perform daily activities, hours of patient care, financial status and social support were all identified to have significant influence as factors affecting the burden on family members of cancer patients. These factors accounted for 22.7% of the family caregivers' burden of caring for the cancer patients.
Conclusion: Further causal relation studies, qualitative studies, and intervention studies are required to confirm the factors affecting the burden of care on family members to reduce the burden, as well as to provide tools for the development of a nursing service to relieve the burden on families of cancer patients.
Key words: Cancer, Family, Self-concept, Social support