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Supportive Care in Cancer
Published in: Supportive Care in Cancer 3/2017

01-03-2017 | Original Article

Mental and physical health correlates among family caregivers of patients with newly-diagnosed incurable cancer: a hierarchical linear regression analysis

Authors: Kelly M. Shaffer, Jamie M. Jacobs, Ryan D. Nipp, Alaina Carr, Vicki A. Jackson, Elyse R. Park, William F. Pirl, Areej El-Jawahri, Emily R. Gallagher, Joseph A. Greer, Jennifer S. Temel

Published in: Supportive Care in Cancer | Issue 3/2017

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Abstract

Purpose

Caregiver, relational, and patient factors have been associated with the health of family members and friends providing care to patients with early-stage cancer. Little research has examined whether findings extend to family caregivers of patients with incurable cancer, who experience unique and substantial caregiving burdens. We examined correlates of mental and physical health among caregivers of patients with newly-diagnosed incurable lung or non-colorectal gastrointestinal cancer.

Methods

At baseline for a trial of early palliative care, caregivers of participating patients (N = 275) reported their mental and physical health (Medical Outcome Survey-Short Form-36); patients reported their quality of life (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General). Analyses used hierarchical linear regression with two-tailed significance tests.

Results

Caregivers’ mental health was worse than the U.S. national population (M = 44.31, p < .001), yet their physical health was better (M = 56.20, p < .001). Hierarchical regression analyses testing caregiver, relational, and patient factors simultaneously revealed that younger (B = 0.31, p = .001), spousal caregivers (B = −8.70, p = .003), who cared for patients reporting low emotional well-being (B = 0.51, p = .01) reported worse mental health; older (B = −0.17, p = .01) caregivers with low educational attainment (B = 4.36, p < .001) who cared for patients reporting low social well-being (B = 0.35, p = .05) reported worse physical health.

Conclusions

In this large sample of family caregivers of patients with incurable cancer, caregiver demographics, relational factors, and patient-specific factors were all related to caregiver mental health, while caregiver demographics were primarily associated with caregiver physical health. These findings help identify characteristics of family caregivers at highest risk of poor mental and physical health who may benefit from greater supportive care.
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Metadata
Title
Mental and physical health correlates among family caregivers of patients with newly-diagnosed incurable cancer: a hierarchical linear regression analysis
Authors
Kelly M. Shaffer
Jamie M. Jacobs
Ryan D. Nipp
Alaina Carr
Vicki A. Jackson
Elyse R. Park
William F. Pirl
Areej El-Jawahri
Emily R. Gallagher
Joseph A. Greer
Jennifer S. Temel
Publication date
01-03-2017
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Supportive Care in Cancer / Issue 3/2017
Print ISSN: 0941-4355
Electronic ISSN: 1433-7339
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-016-3488-4

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