A study of psychiatric morbidity and burden of care in caregivers of cancer patients

Expected outcome & Application Based onliterature, significant burden of care and psychiatric morbidity is expected tobe found in the study subjects, with co-relations between advanced stages ofcancer and the psychological impact on caregivers. The most commonly detected morbidity isexpected to be depression and anxiety. This study will helpin diagnosing overt or covert psychological manifestations of caregiving infamily members/ caregivers of cancer patients. Timely detection andinterventions to address the same would amplify the quality of their caregivingrole. Also, understanding the multifaceted nature of burden of care incaregivers will help in formulating the treatment plan for patients morecomprehensively.

Research question(s):

What are the psychiatric morbidities experienced bycare givers of cancer patients?

What is the perceived burden of caregiving in caregivers of cancer patients?

Aim and objectives:

• To studyPsychiatric morbidities in caregivers of cancer patients.
• To assess theseverity of depressive symptoms in caregivers of cancer patients.
• To assess theseverity of anxiety symptoms in caregivers of cancer patients.
• To assess Burdenof care in caregivers of cancer patients.
• To study thecorrelation between caregiver burden and study variables.

Inclusion criteria:

For cancer patients-

Patientsattending Oncology and Onco surgery OPD/IPD

Havinga histopathological diagnosis of cancer.

Whogave Consent to their care givers to participate in the study.

ForCaregivers-

Caregivers living together with the patient forminimum duration of 1 year.

Age group between 18 to 55 years, both genders

Who will give consent to participate in thestudy

Exclusion criteria:

For Patient-

 Whodid not give consent to their caregivers to participate in study.

For care givers-

 Thosewho have a history of major psychiatric disorder (including  substance use disorder)

History of significant head injury or majormedical illness.

STUDY INSTRUMENTS:

  1.     ZARITBURDEN INTERVIEW – ZBI was developed to measure subjective burden amongstcaregivers. Items were generated based on clinical experiences with caregiverand prior studies resulting in a 22- item self- report inventory, that examinethe burden associated with functional/behavioural  impairment and the homecare situation. Eachquestion is scored on a 5 point like scale ranging from- never to nearly alwayspresent. Total scores range from 0 to 88

 2.     BECK’SANXIETY INVENTORY-  BAI measures thecommon symptoms of anxiety and they ask the subject to define thepresence,  absence and severity of theirsymptoms in last month. The 21 question on the inventory are scored on a scalevalue of 0-3 and score ranges from 0 to 63.

 3.     BECK’SDEPRESSION INVENTORY- BDI is a 21 question multiple choice self reportinventory, one of the most widely used instrument to measure the severity ofdepression. A value of 0-3 is assigned to each answer and score ranges from 0to 63.

 4.     DSMCROSS CUTTING LEVEL I AND II – The DSM 5 cross-cutting symptom measure is intended to help clinician identifyadditional area of inquiry that may have significant impact on individualtreatment and prognosis. This adult version of measure consists of 23 questionsthat assess 13 psychiatric domains.