Relationship between pressure burden, psychological status and social support in main family caregivers of hepatic cancer patients

Abstract

Objective To explore the relationship between pressure burden, psychological status and social support in main caregivers of hepatic cancer patients. Methods A total of 106 main family caregivers of hospitalized hepatic cancer patients were recruited in the study. The general data questionnaire, Symptom Checklist 90 （SCL-90）, Caregiver Strain Index （CSI）, and Social Support Rating Scale （SSRS） were used in the investigation. Results The factors of main family earegivers of hepatic cancer patients on somatization （SOM）, Obsessive-Compulsive （O-C）, depression （ DEP）, and anxiety （ANX） were significant：ly higher than the norm of Jiangsu（ x2 = 8. 306, P 〈 0. 01 ）. The differences were significant （ t = - 2. 844, - 2.744, - 3. 587, respectively;P 〈0. 05）. The total score of SCI was （8.23 ±2.69） , within which 81.1% earegivers had a score ≥7. Relationship between pressure burden and social support, and the psychological status and social support was negatively correlated （ r = - 0. 23- - 0. 61 ; P 〈 0. 05 ）. But the psychological status was associated with the pressure burden of family caregivers of hepatic cancer patients （ r = 0. 11 - 0. 63 ; P 〈 0. 05 ）. ConcluSions Mental disorders are common in main family earegivers of hepatic cancer patients, mainly in the aspect of SOM, O-C, DEP and ANX. Therefore, more attention should to be paid, and more efforts should be taken to improve their social support and decrease their pressure burden. Key words: Hepatic cancer; Main family caregivers ; Psychological status ; Social support ; Pressure burden