The effect of anxiety and spiritual well-being on the care burden of caregivers of cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic
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2022
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Abstract
Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the caregivers of people with all chronic diseases, including people with cancer (PWC). This study was conducted to determine the impact of anxiety and spiritual well-being on the care burden of caregivers of PWC during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: This cross-sectional descriptive study included 250 caregivers of hematology and oncology patients registered with a cancer support association. All participants completed the following self-report questionnaires: the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7), and the Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZBI). Results: Most (82.4%) of the caregivers expressed fear that their patient may contract COVID-19, and 42.0% stated that they had difficulty getting to the hospital. The caregivers’ mean ZBI score was 21.06 ± 14.64, their mean GAD-7 score was 14.51 ± 6.02, and their mean SWBS score was 111.50 ± 16.84. According to the results of regression analysis, SWBS and GAD-7 scores had a significant effect on the ZBI score (p < 0.05). Conclusion: In this study, anxiety explained most of the care burden during COVID-19. Therefore, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be beneficial to implement practices to promote spirituality and reduce anxiety in caregivers of PWC. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
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Anxiety , Anxiety Disorders , Caregiver Burden , Caregivers , Cost of Illness , COVID-19 , Cross-Sectional Studies , Humans , Neoplasms , Pandemics , SARS-CoV-2 , Surveys and Questionnaires , adult , allogeneic stem cell transplantation , anger , anxiety , Article , autologous stem cell transplantation , bone cancer , cancer chemotherapy , cancer classification , cancer immunotherapy , cancer patient , cancer radiotherapy , cancer surgery , care behavior , caregiver burden , caregiver burnout , child rearing , chronic disease , coronavirus disease 2019 , cross-sectional study , curfew , descriptive research , educational status , employment status , family relation , fear , female , female genital tract cancer , Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 , guilt , head and neck cancer , health care access , health insurance , hematologic malignancy , hospital admission , hospitalization , human , infection risk , insomnia , male , marriage , medical fee , mental concentration , mental disease assessment , middle aged , neuroendocrine carcinoma , obsession , pandemic , personal income , professional-patient relationship , protective equipment shortage , psychological wellbeing assessment , questionnaire , risk perception , sadness , scoring system , self report , sex difference , social insurance , soft tissue cancer , spiritual well-being , symptom assessment , unhappiness , urban area , urinary tract cancer , work experience , work schedule , anxiety , anxiety disorder , caregiver , caregiver burden , cost of illness , epidemiology , neoplasm , pandemic