Psychological distress of female caregivers of significant others with cancer

Abstract

This study explored the role of time since diagnosis and whether the care recipient was a child, a parent, or a spouse, on caregiver’s perceptions of the caring role, with a group of 269 female cancer caregivers. Questionnaire measures were used to explore psychological and social resources and psychological distress. Analysis of variance and hierarchical multiple regression were used and identified significant effects of time since diagnosis and care recipient. This study concludes that a more tailored approach to understanding the needs of caregivers is required particularly in terms of time since diagnosis and care recipient, in order to provide more effective support.

Keywords

• cancer
• caregiver
• support
• psychological distress