Caregiver stress: Clinical evaluation and intervention strategies for caregiver burden prevention.

Abstract

22 Background: Caregivers (CGs) of advanced cancer patients (pts/ACPs) experience a higher incidence of medical and psychological conditions compared to general population. Methods: We conducted a prospective assessment of the caregiver burden (CGB) - a term describing the physical, psychological, emotional, social, and financial problems often experienced by CGs - to identify potential risk management strategies. We used the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI), a multi-dimensional questionnaire with 5 subscales: Time Dependent, Developmental, Physical, Social, Emotional CGB, as a quantitative tool to investigate the level of stress of our pts CGs. Also, we used a semi-structured interview with 5 questions as a qualitative tool. Results: From Dec 2016 to Feb 2017 we administered the CBI and the interview to 37 CGs (F/M 31/6) of ACPs in 3 different settings: inpatient (9 CGs), outpatient (15 CGs), home-based (13 CGs). The quantitative data analysis showed that CGs had a variable emotional load, mostly of moderate level. In particular, the level of stress of our pts CGs of outpatients and inpatients was higher in the physical dimension, while was higher in the time dimension for CGs of home-based pts. Semi-structured interviews showed that CGs of home-based pts did not feel adequate to provide assistance to their relatives, and had partial or poor knowledge of basic care, especially of in-bed mobilization and hygiene techniques. In the other 2 settings, CGs showed a higher level of stress due to the lack of a professional contact person throughout the care pathway, and experienced the need of psychological support. Overall, the qualitative assessment showed that CGs lives were strongly affected by caregiving. Conclusions: Our results confirm published data showing that assisting ACPs is a particularly difficult task for the CGs. Therefore, we implemented potential improvement strategies: in the home setting, specific attention to the educational aspects of basic care; in the inpatient setting, a weekly meeting for physicians, nurses, and psychologists, to discuss the most difficult cases; in the outpatient setting, a 25% increase in the number of visits for pain and supportive therapy to offer a better continuity of care.