Evaluation of care burden and quality of life among family caregivers of patients with cancer

The aim of this study was to evaluate care burden and quality of life among family caregivers of patients with cancer. This study which is descriptive and cross sectional was conducted with 200 family caregivers at the hematology-oncology clinic hospitalize and outpatients in a public hospital in Manisa. The data were collected by means of general information form for patients and their family caregivers, Stres Scale of Nurse, Your Reactions to Help Family Members Scale and The Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer Scale. Mean±Standard Deviation, Speraman's rho correlation analysis were used for statistical analysis. The mean age of caregivers were 45.7±14.9 (18-82) years, 58.0% were female. The caregivers' mean scores of Stres Scale of Nurse were found 7.2±3.3 (0.0-13.0), mean scores of Your Reactions to Help Family Members Scale were found 47.8±11.6 (14.0-74.0) and mean scores of The Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer Scale were found 149.5±37.3 (56.0-243.0). It was found that there were negatively statistical correlation among mean scores of The Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer Scale and mean scores of Stres Scale of Nurse and mean scores of Your Reactions to Help Family Members Scale. The results of this study indicated that family caregivers perceived that high levels of stress, their life was affected adversely, they had lower quality of life.