Study of Caregivers burden of patients with advanced cancer by “Caregivers burden inventory”

Abstract

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the number of cancer-related deaths will increase by 45 percent between 2008 and 2030. Following this estimate, many projects and programs have been implemented to improve cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, but the number of new cancer cases and deaths is increasing worldwide. As of 2019, there are 20 913 cancer patients under the supervision of aimag and district oncologists. In our country, 78.8 percent of all cancers are diagnosed in stage 3, 4 and are transferred to palliative care. However, in our country, there is a lack of research on the family, caregiver burden of patients receiving palliative care. Therefore, we aimed to assess the caregivers of burden and quality of life of family of cancer patients in this study. Material and methods: The survey was conducted between November 2017 and December 2019 using an analytical instantaneous model. The survey data were collected from caregivers of cancer patients at the National Cancer Center, Ulaanbaatar District Health Center, Green Home, and Grace Hospices. The caregiver burden of cancer patients receiving palliative care was assessed using the Caregiver burden inventory international standard questionnaire “Caregiver burden inventory”. Results: In the study involved 180 caregivers aged 20 to 72 years. 82.8 percent of care givers are women and 17.2 percent are men. The average workload score for caregivers is 32.97±11.8 for men and 40.53±14.9 for women, which is a statistically significant difference. Conclusions: More than 60 percent of caregivers spend more than 11 hours a day caring for patients.