Evaluation OF psychological aspects of taking care cancer patients: a multicentre study on a sample of caregivers

Abstract

Every day about a thousand people receive a cancer diagnosis (AIOM,AIRTUM,2016).The cancer is one of the disease that most of all represent a serious danger for the human life and arises as one of the most stressful and traumatic events with witch who is hit must deal with.When a pathology hits a person, immediately the whole family and all his internal and external relations are involved.The family is the first relational network and the first subjective dimension of the individual, indeed, when a member is hit from an oncologic pathology, the whole family “lives” the disease and this could play a determinant role on how the illness is faced and lived.The oncological disease forces the family to face an incredibly amount of stress or changes on daily activities.Supporting caregivers so they can deal with their relatives’ cancerous condition is useful to improve both patient care and collaboration with medical teams. San Raffaele Hospital's Clinical and Health Psychology Service, developed a study to make a psychological evaluation of who attend the patient during course of the disease.This multicentre study is in line with the intervention model “action research”.In a sample of 201 caregivers (mean age=51.46;sd=14.92) (M = 72;W=129) Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), Coping Orientation Problems Experienced (COPE), Experience Close Relationship (ECR) were administered to evaluate respectively Quality of Life, perceived emotional Burden (B), Coping styles and Attachment styles. The sample takes care his/her partner (P) (n = 85), parent(PA) (n = 68), son/daughter (SD) (n = 7), brother/sister (BS) (n = 19), or others (O) (n = 22). Preliminary results show a main effect of type of relationship between caregiver and patient for “Mental Health Index”(MHI) (F(4,191)=4.150;p<.003).In particular P (m = 35.28; sd = 1.38) and PA (m = 36.25;sd=1.53) reported worse levels of MHI than O (m = 45.23;sd=2.68). MHI and Anxiety attachment style average were significantly correlated(r=-.522,p<.05).Furthermore a main effect of type of relationship between caregiver and patient was found for B (F(4,190)=4.091;p<.003). Specifically P reported higher levels of B (m = 23.31;sd.=1.39) than O(m = 14.24;sd.=2.78). P, PA, SD reported mild or moderate levels of Burden. On the basis of the results, the relationship is a relevant element in the experience of caregiving. The final aim is increasing the knowledge about specific oncological caregivers' needs, in order to improving psychological interventions.