The effects of sociodemographic characteristics and quality of life of caregivers on quality of life of inpatient cancer patients in Hacettepe University Oncology Hospital

Cancer is a chronic disease that affects the quality of life of patients and their caregivers from the moment the disease is diagnosed. In addition to many characteristics of the patients, some characteristics of the caregivers are among the factors affecting the quality of life of the patients. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the effects of some sociodemographic characteristics and quality of life of caregivers of cancer patients on the quality of life of patients. In this cross-sectional study, 40 patients hospitalized in Hacettepe University Oncology Hospital and their caregivers were interviewed between February 2021 and May 2021. The quality of life of the patients was evaluated with the EORTC-Q scale and the quality of life of the caregivers was evaluated with the SF-12 scale. The physical functionality score of the patients was divided into 2 groups according to the median value and included in the analyzes as a covariate. The effects of caregivers' characteristics on patients' quality of life were evaluated with the Mantel-Haenszel test along with the covariate, and the results were interpreted with stratified analyzes and adjusted Odds ratios. It has been observed that the gender of the caregiver affects the pain symptom of the patient, the age of the patient, the symptoms of loss of appetite, constipation and diarrhea, the educational status of the patient, the loss of appetite and economic difficulty.A positive correlation was found between caregivers' physical role difficulties and patients' social functions, and a positive correlation between caregivers' general health status and emotional role difficulties and patients' physical function. Evaluating the quality of life of the caregivers as well as the patients, providing education, social and economic support when necessary can be effective in increasing the quality of life of the caregivers and the quality of care they provide to the patients.