| Abstract |
Introduction: Caregivers of urological cancer patients play a central role in patient care, yet their quality of life often remains unexplored. This cross-sectional study investigates the quality of life of caregivers in Crete, aiming to identify key factors influencing their well-being.
Methods: Our sample was caregivers of patients with urological cancer from the Venizelio General Hospital of Heraklion. Data were collected through the CareGiver Oncology Quality of Life questionnaire, which assesses a variety of domains of quality of life, including psychological well-being, physical well-being, and personal life. Each domain's score is obtained by averaging the item scores for that domain. An index is calculated as the average of domain scores. All domain and index scores are linearly transformed and standardized to a 0–100 scale. Demographic data such as age, gender, relationship to the patient, type of cancer were also collected. Relationships between caregivers' QoL domain scores with their demographics as well as various patient disease components such as disease type were examined.
Results: The sample consisted of 106 caregivers of which 81.1% 86 were women (81.1%) and the majority 47 were caregivers aged between 56-75 years (44.4%). Of the total number of caregivers, 65 (61.3%) were spouses and 30 (28.3%) were children of the patient. Most patients, videlicet 55, had bladder cancer (51.9%), followed by 25 patients who had prostate cancer (23.6%) and then 17 who had kidney cancer (16%). The overall quality of life score was 59.7 (±12.8), with the lowest scores in leisure (39.7 ±23.8), psychological well-being (43.4 ±23.0), and private life (45.6 ±24.8). Specifically, female caregivers had a lower score in psychological well-being (p-value=0.035) and in private life (p-value=0.008) with 41.1 (±23.0) and 42.6 (±24.2) compared to men who had scores of 53.1 (±21.0) and 58.8 (±24.4) respectively. Also, younger caregivers in the 18-35 age group compared to older caregivers had the lowest self-esteem score (p-value 0.031) with 45.3 (±25.8). Caregivers with a lower level of education have lower scores in the leisure sector (p-value=0.015). Similarly, caregivers with a worse financial status, in contrast to those with a moderate and good financial status, had the lowest scores in the quality of relationship with health care (p-value=0.001), in administrative and financial matters (p-value=0.015 ) and in self-esteem (p-value=0.013). Also, of all patient-caregiver relationships, caregiver-spouses had the lowest scores on private life (p-value=0.001) and leisure (p-value=0.032) with 39.0 (±23.1) and 35.0 (± 24.4) respectively. Similarly, living with the patient compared to caregivers not living with the patient had lower scores of 34.9 (±24.6) in leisure (p-value=0.002) and 40.8 (±24.2) in private life (p-value=0.003).
Conclusion: Caregivers of patients with urological cancer face significant challenges that significantly affect their quality of life. This study highlights the need for targeted interventions and support policies to address the specific needs of caregivers of urological cancer patients.
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