The relationship between care burden and quality of life of family members providing home care to multiple sclerosis patients

Chronic diseases are diseases that cause irreversible physiological changes and require continuous medical care for a long period of life. The phenomenon of illness, which enters the life of an individual unexpectedly, prevents him from fulfilling the personal and social roles and functions expected of him, and eventually causes him to experience some psychological, social and economic problems. The chronic course of the disease, on the other hand, makes these problems long-term and complex for the patient and their relatives, negatively affecting their quality of life. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is one of the diseases in the medical literature that causes negativities and difficulties in the quality of life in all processes of the patient's life and causes a significant decrease in the quality of life of both the patient and the caregiver. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the relationship between the care burden and quality of life of family members who provide home care to multiple sclerosis patients. The research consisted of 158 patient relatives registered to the neurology clinic of a university hospital. In data collection, Caregiver Introductory Information Form (Annex-1), Caregiver Burden Scale (Annex-2), Caregivers Quality of Life Scale-(Annex 3) were used. Evaluation of the data was made using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) program. In our study, the mean score on the Caregiver Burden Scale of caregivers was determined as 57.89 ± 15.33. According to the education level of the caregivers, having a child, the degree of closeness to the patient, living in the same house with the patient, the total duration of care, the state of being affected by the treatment process, the state of affecting the responsibilities, the state of having problems in marital relationships, the state of having problems in family relationships. It was determined that the mean scores of the caregiving burden scale were statistically significant (p<0.05). According to the findings obtained from the Caregivers' Quality of Life Scale in our study, when the mean score of the quality of life scale was examined, the item load sub-dimension had the highest mean score (26.00 ± 9.75). In addition, it was determined that there was a negative and moderate relationship between the Caregiver Burden Scale and the Caregiver's Quality of Life scale.