| Abstract |
Introduction: The quality of life and mental health of caregivers (professionals and
non-professionals) of cancer patients will be burdened by the care of their patients.
Aim: The purpose of this dissertation is to study the burden of caregivers
(professionals and non-professionals) with cancer patients, quality of life, mental
health, and their impact on the course of these patients.
The individual goals I set were:
a) the degree to which caregivers of cancer patients are burdened, their quality of life,
exhaustion and perceived and post-traumatic stress,
b) the assessment of the burden of these caregivers at the level of psychosocial,
professional, family, and financial and c) the obstacles they face in the work they
undertake and the factors that facilitate it.
Methods: Study of mixed methodology by completing a questionnaire using 4 tools to
measure the quality of life, perceived stress, burnout and post-traumatic stress.
Participants in the study were 55 caregivers (professionals and non-professionals) of
cancer patients whose patients were hospitalized during the months of the study at the
Pathological Oncology Clinic of PAGNI. The questionnaires were completed with the
help of the researcher who recorded socio-demographic characteristics, health habits,
health score, perceived stress, post-traumatic stress, emotional exhaustion.
In addition, from the participants, 12 people were invited to two focus groups on the
total burden and the obstacles faced by caregivers. The analysis of the research data of
Public Health-Primary Health Care-Health Services
School of Medicine–University of Crete
8
the present postgraduate thesis was done using the statistical program IBM SPSS
26.0. Descriptive statistics were used to present the characteristics of the sample,
Results:
The findings of the study showed that caregivers receive a higher score on perceived
stress with an average value of 30.42 (± 6.15) than that of professionals, at the same
time their health score is 56.10 (± 24.66) lower than their professional careers. In
addition, there was a large difference in the score of post-traumatic stress between
professionals and non-professionals, with professionals averaging 4.16 (± 2.64)
compared to non-professionals who averaged 31.56 (± 10, 35). Factors that appeared
to be associated with scores were age, smoking, alcohol, and the number of family
members.
Conclusions: The study highlighted the differences between professional and nonprofessional caregivers, with non-professionals having a greater impact on perceived
and post-traumatic stress levels while having a poorer overall health status. These
differences along with the factors associated with increased stress and exhaustion
should be considered in taking care of and supporting caregivers' mental health.
|
Collections
