Stress level in in-patients with cancer and caregivers, comparing the level of perceived support and determining the associated sociodemographic and medical factors

Aim: The primary aim of this study is to search for the relationship between depression,anxiety,stress level,perceived family support level and the attachment forms in in-patients with cancer. The secondary aim of this study is to search for the relationship between the support level perceived by the patient with cancer stres level and the attachment style and the level of stres perceived by the caregiver, the level of perceived family support and the attachment style. Method:This research was conducted with the inpatients and their caregivers who accepted to participate in the research between the dates of December 2013-March 2014 in Tülay Aktaş Oncology Hospital. Sociodemographic data form , stress thermometer, perceived family support scale,experiences in close relationships-revised 2 and also hospital anxiety and depression scale were applied to the study participants. The informative numbers and percentages were shown in the statistical analysis. In the evaluation of the datas, Paired Sample T test, Chi-squared test,Spearman Correlation Analysis and Mann Whitney U and Wilcoxon test were used. Results: It was discovered that , compared to the patients with normal stres level ,the patients with high stress level(>4) had statistically significant differences only in their anxiety scores(p:0.003). In our study, a significant link was positively determined within the patients‟ total stress thermometer scores. However, according to the stress thermometer cutoff score, when the patients were separated into the ones with high stres and the ones with low stres no difference was detected in terms of depression but statistically significant differences were detected in terms of anxiety.A reversely significant relationship was found out within the range of the patients‟ anxious attachment scores and the caregivers‟ total perceived family support score .A reversely significant relationship was found out within the range of the caregivers‟ total perceived family support score and the caregivers‟ total anxious attachment and avoidant attachment scores.In terms of avoidant and anxious attachment style, the stress level and the perceived family support that the patient and the caregiver had, showed similar features but any statistically significant difference was not detected. Discussion: In our study , among patients with high stress and patients with low stress any statistically significant difference was not detected in terms of total age , depression,perceived family support, anxious and avoidant attachment scores. However, a statistically significant difference was detected among the total anxiety scores. This finding gave rise to a thougth that the patients with high stress level could be more anxious and distress level could be closely associated with anxiety level more than working parameters. A reversely significant relationship was determined between the patients‟ total perceived family support score and the patients‟ total anxious attachment and avoidant attachment scores. This finding showed that as the avoidant and anxious attachment scores increased , the perceived family support score declined. According to this study,the patients with cancer who had both avoidant attachment and the anxious attachment could not get enough family support. In accordance with the patients, a reversely significant relationship was determined between the caregivers‟ total perceived family support score and the caregivers‟ total avoidant attachment and anxious attachment scores. In this study, eventhough a significant relationship was not found out between the attachment style and the distress level , a reversely significant relationship between the attachment style and the depression and the anxiety level was found out only among the patients. As the depression and anxiety scores increased, both of the attachment styles‟ scores declined. This finding was not found compitable with the literature review. In this regard, our hypothesis „ the patients and the caregivers that have high distress level will get higher anxious attachment scores‟ was not confirmed. The stres level of the patient and the caregiver and also the perceived family support level did not affect eachother in terms of avoidant and anxious attachment styles.This finding suggested that the patients and the caregivers could be going through similar psychological and psychosocial processes. Due to the fewness of the samples and the study‟ s cross-sectional feature, it restricted the generalizing the results.Researching the patient with cancer and the caregiver simultaneously with the similar psychometry and examining the effects on eachother is a strong side of this study.This findings might be guiding for the patients and the patient relatives in terms of supportive approaches. Keywords: cancer, anxiety,depression,perceived family support , social support