Effects on the soci̇al li̇fe of balanced levels i̇n care of palliative care patients

Background and Purpose: A palliative cancer patient is a patient population that is life threatening, has a poor prognosis, is advanced and needs more psychosocial, physical, and spiritual areas to experience many more symptoms, especially pain. These problems and the unmet needs of the individual have an adverse effect on the functional status and quality of life of the palliative cancer patient. Our study was conducted as a descriptive study to determine the effect of burnout and burnout on the social lives of relatives or carers who provide continuous care service as primary to palliative care patients. Material and Methods: The sample of the study was close to that of 200 cancer patients who applied to Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University Medical Faculty Emergency Medicine Department and Palliative Care Center. The data were collected with "Sociodemographic Survey Form", "Maslach Burnout Scale", "Cope Scale" and "SF-36 Quality of Life Scale" for the relatives of the patients. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics in the SPSS program. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between the scores. Results: Patient of the caregivers were women 58 %, married 74,5 %, graduates of primary school 39,5 %, nonworking 65,5 %; had health security 70%, equal income and expenses 54,5 %. There was a positive relationship between depersonalization (p<0.001) and age (p = 0.004) with emotional exhaustion, and negative correlation between age and personal achievement (p = 0.046). The results of the study showed that family caregivers who received palliative care had a higher burden of care perceived by their cancer caregiver, had a negative impact on their lives while providing care to the patient, increased burnout and lower quality of life. Conclusions: When the results of our study are evaluated together; it can be said that there is relationship between burnout and social support. As a result of our cultural values, we are able to reduce mental / psychological health problems the most. It may be possible to anticipate that the level of burnout and the standard of living will improve as a result of social support from the environment of cancer patients.