Investigation of perceived social support and caregiving burden of those who care for oncology patients

This research made as a descriptive study to defining the burden of caregiving about family caregivers of cancer patients and identifiying the factors on their families caregiving burden and perceived social support in caregiving.The research were made on 200 caregiver of cancer patients admitted to Firat University Oncology Clinic and Oncology Daytime Treatment Unit between October 2010 and June 2011. Zarit Caregıvıng Burden Scale was used as a data collection toll based on questioning forms, and Family Perceived Social Support Scale.In the assessment of data, percentage dispersion, means, parametric Independent-Samples t Test, One-Way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis and Cronbach Alpha analysis were used.Family caregiver burden averages established as a statistically significant difference in mean score of the test based on the factors; the role and responsibilities of the caregiver in the family, whether another disease of her/him, struggle to cover health care costs and received social support. The family caregiver burden averages are higher among the caregivers who has another illness, unable to afford the patient spending, effected family roles and responsibilities, and unable to receive enough social support.Findings suggest that there is a negative correlation between family caregiver burden and perceived social support (r =0.199 and p=0.005). This shows that the caregivers who receive less social support has more burden.Key Words: Onkology, caregiving burden, perceived social support