High psychosocial burden in relatives of malignant brain tumor patients.

Stieb, Sonja; Fischbeck, Sabine; Wagner, Wolfgang; Appels, Julia; Wiewrodt, Dorothee (2018). High psychosocial burden in relatives of malignant brain tumor patients. Clinical neurology and neurosurgery, 170, pp. 1-6. Elsevier 10.1016/j.clineuro.2018.04.023

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OBJECTIVE

Not only tumor patients suffer enormously from their disease, also the caregivers are massively affected by the disease of their relatives. In this study, we investigate the psychological burden in caregivers of outpatient malignant brain tumor patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Fifty caregivers of patients with primary malignant brain tumors were included in our study. Study participants filled in a form with demographic details, a self-established questionnaire concerning general well-being and three established psychological questionnaires to assess anxiety, depression, stress and social support: The "Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale" (HADS), the "Perceived Stress Scale" (PSS-10) and the "Social Support Questionnaire" (F-SozU).

RESULTS

Caregivers of patients with primary malignant brain tumors showed in the HADS clinically relevant anxiety in 49% and depression in 20% of the cases. The stress level of the caregivers was increased (mean: 18 points) compared to the general population mean: 13 points), although they felt well supported by their social environment (mean: 4.25 points; general population 3.99 points). There was a significant positive correlation between anxiety and depression (p < 0.001). Female caregivers suffered significantly more from anxiety (p = 0.017) and stress (p = 0.012) than their male counterparts. No correlation was found between tumor grade, age of relatives and patients or the state of living together with the patient and anxiety or depression.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the caregivers felt well supported by their social environment, stress, anxiety and depression are common phenomena in caregivers of patients with malignant brain tumors. Especially female ones have an increased risk for developing these comorbidities.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Haematology, Oncology, Infectious Diseases, Laboratory Medicine and Hospital Pharmacy (DOLS) > Clinic of Radiation Oncology

UniBE Contributor:

Stieb, Sonja

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0303-8467

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Beatrice Scheidegger

Date Deposited:

21 Jun 2018 16:00

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:14

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.clineuro.2018.04.023

PubMed ID:

29709767

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Anxiety Caregiver Depression Neurooncology Psychooncology Stress

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.116488

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/116488

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