Anxiety and Burden among Caregivers of Onco-Hematology Patients

The occurrence of cancer in a family member denounces the whole family. Few studies have explored anxiety and burden in parents responsible for the management of patients hospitalized with malignant hematologic pathologies. The Zarit scale and the STAI anxiety scale were deployed to study the degree of parental burden and the level of anxiety, and to investigate possible correlations between these two parameters.

Methods: Descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study over 3 months concerning parents of patients hospitalized in the hematology department at University Hospital Hedi Chaker Sfax.

Results: Our study involved 22 caregivers. In 77% of cases, these were mothers with a median age of 38 years, the level of education was high school in 50% of cases and economic level was considered middle in 73% of cases. The reported burden varied between mild to moderate and moderate to severe in 90% of cases. The analytical study demonstrated a statistically significant correlation between the level of burden and the sex of the patient, in favor of a more burden with the female sex of the patient, the duration of the disease progression and the number of hospitalizations. AT scale was in median of 30 and very low in 91% of cases. AS scale was in median of 35 and low to medium in 50% of cases. The level of anxiety studied using the STAI scale was positively associated with parent’s study level.

Conclusion: It’s an important subject not adequately treated even though it has a major impact on the results of care and the quality of life for both patients and caregivers.