QOL-27. EXPLORING DYADIC CHANGES IN ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION SYMPTOMS FOR PRIMARY BRAIN TUMOR PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILY CAREGIVERS

Abstract

Abstract A primary brain tumor (PBT) diagnosis impacts not only the diagnosed person but their family caregivers. Prior research has established that the psychosocial outcomes (i.e., fear of cancer recurrence, quality of life) of individuals with a PBT and their caregivers are interrelated. Actor-partner interdependence modeling (APIM) can account for this interdependence and be used to assess for dyadic changes over time or different variables. The purpose of the present study was to assess longitudinal dyadic changes in anxiety and depressive symptoms for PBT patients and their caregivers. 38 PBT patient/caregiver dyads completed assessments of anxiety and depressive symptoms during routine oncology clinic visits. All dyads completed at least two assessments, at least 8-weeks apart utilizing the PROMIS anxiety and depression short forms. APIM analyses via mixed linear modeling revealed significant actor effects for both depression and anxiety symptoms (i.e., how the same person’s scores are related from baseline to follow-up) but non-significant partner effects (i.e., how one person’s score at the first timepoint is related to the other person’s score at the second timepoint). Specifically, a one-point increase in T-score at the first timepoint was associated with the same person having a 0.58 increase in their PROMIS depression T-score and 0.50 increase in their PROMIS anxiety T-score, respectively, at the second timepoint (p < .001). There were no significant partner effects detected for depression (p = .168) or anxiety (p = .998). Despite the lack of significant relationship between patient and caregiver outcomes in these results (possibly influenced by small sample size), it is notable that, overall, there was an increase in psychological distress over time for both depression and anxiety symptoms for both patients and caregivers. Thus, future research should continue to focus on how to reduce distress and ensure that both patients and caregivers are supported throughout the disease trajectory.