Study of Factors Affect Quality of Life in Family Caregivers of Patients with Cancer

Abstract

Background: In 2020, 6473 new cancer cases were registered in Mongolia. 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 factors affect and quality of life of patients receiving palliative care. Therefore, we aimed to assess the caregivers of factors affect and quality of life of family of cancer patients in this study. Materials 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. Quality of life was assessed using the WHO WHOQOL-BREF method. Results: The study involved 180 caregivers aged 20 to 72 years. 82.8 percent of the total guardians are women and 17.2 percent are men. The quality of life of the caregivers surveyed was 65.0 percent. In terms of the quality of life of caregivers, the environment is 59.9 percent, social relations 69.2 percent, psychological 70.8 percent, and physical 64.0 percent. The quality of life of caregivers was rated 69.8 percent for men and 64.0 percent for women, or relatively low for women. A statistically significant indicator is that the quality of life of caregivers decreases as patients spend more time per day (p=0.013). 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 (p = 0.007). Conclusion: The quality of life of caregivers participating in the study decreased.