Assessment of Caregiving Burden of Family Caregivers of Advanced Cancer Patients and Their Satisfaction with the Dedicated Inpatient Palliative Care Provided to Their Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study from a Tertiary Care Centre in South Asia

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Family Caregivers (FCs) of advanced cancer patients often suffer from caregiving burden due to stress arising from the responsibility of caregiving. During the course of their patients palliative therapy, FCs quality of life seems to be influenced by their satisfaction with the quality of patient care. In this study, caregiving burden of FCs and their satisfaction with dedicate Inpatient palliative care (IPC) services provided to their patients were studied. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study assessed 211 FCs of advanced cancer patients. Caregiving burden of FCs and their satisfaction with IPC were studied through Zarith Burden Interview (ZBI-12 version) and Family Carer Satisfaction with Palliative Care scale (FAMCARE-2) questionnaires, respectively. Descriptive and correlation analyses were deployed for data analysis. RESULTS: The summative mean ZBI-12 score for FCs was 20.26±5.92, suggesting moderate to high caregiving burden among FCs. Significantly higher scores were observed among FCs who belonged to below poverty line (BPL) families(p=0.025), revealing higher caregiving burden among this lower income group. FCs who were male, unmarried, unemployed, and residing in rural experienced higher caregiving burden. However, it did not lead to a statistically significant difference. The summative mean FAMCARE-2 scale scores was 74.01±4.34, which suggested FCs high satisfaction with the palliative care services provided to their patients. FAMCARE-2 scale scores were lower for BPL families, but it was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: FCs from lower-income groups experienced higher caregiving burden. It seems that IPC unit provided satisfactory services to advanced cancer patients, leading to enhancement of FCs satisfaction and consequently quality of life.