Psychological burden on cancer patients and their caregivers during COVID-19 pandemic in India

Abstract

Objective: Psychological burden is a serious issue facing by the cancer patients and their caregivers (CGs) around the world during the pandemic situations such as COVID-19. In the present study, we assessed the psychological burden on cancer patients and their CGs during this COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The study was done using standardized questionnaire of the most validated scales - perceived stress scale and the caregiver strain index. Results: A total of 334 patients and 257 CGs participated in the present study. Majority of the patients experienced moderate to high level of stress (n = 239 [72%]), while CGs experienced a high level of strain (n = 132 [52%]). In the patient's cohort, stress was dependent significantly on education (p < 0.01), gender (p < 0.05), on active treatment (p < 0.001), and surgery (p < 0.05). Among CGs, strain was significantly affected by less education CGs (p < 0.001), patients more on active treatment (p < 0.01), and more primary gastrointestinal tumors (p < 0.01). From multivariate analysis of pandemic-specific factors, difficulty in transportation (p < 0.01) and increased financial burden (p < 0.05) were found to be significant influencing factors affecting the stress level of patients. Conclusion: To overcome the psychological burden due to lockdown, we suggest the initiation of psychosocial caring in all the necessary patients and their CGs to demonstrate its benefits in the long term.

Keywords

• caregiver strain index
• cross-sectional study
• perceived stress scale
• psychosocial caring