Caregiving burden, depression, and anxiety among family caregivers of patients with cancer: An investigation of patient and caregiver factors
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Background: Caring for patients with cancer can result in significant burden, anxiety, and depression among family caregivers, leading to alterations in their mental and physical wellbeing. Evidence on the level of cancer caregivers' burden, depression, anxiety, their role in assisting their patients, and other patient and caregiver factors that play in improving/worsening the outcomes, is limited. This study explored the prevalence of caregiving burden, depression, and anxiety with a focus on the patient and caregiver-related factors among cancer family caregivers. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on the population of caregivers of adult patients with cancer in Zanjan, Iran between 2019 and 2020. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Zarit Burden Inventory (ZBI) were used to measure outcome variables. Clinical and basic characteristics of the caregivers and patients were also collected. An independent samples t -test, analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and stepwise linear regression were performed using SPSS software version 26. Results: Mean ± standard deviation age of the caregivers (167 men and 133 women) was 40.77 ± 12.56. Of the caregivers, 46.3, 53, and 30.7% showed severe depression, anxiety, and burden, respectively. There was a significant positive correlation between ZBI with both BDI [ r (298) = 0.19, p < 0.01] and BAI [ r (298) = 0.20, p < 0.01]. Caregiving ≥24 months ( B = 14.36, p < 0.001), outpatient care setting ( B = −12.90, p < 0.001), being retired ( B = −12.90, p < 0.001), depression ( B = 0.28, p < 0.001), supplemental health insurance ( B = −7.79, p < 0.001), being illiterate ( B = 7.77, p < 0.01), surgery ( B = 8.55, p < 0.01), ECOG1 ( B = 4.88, p < 0.01), and patient's age ( B = 0.11, p < 0.05) were found to be significant predictors of caregiving burden. Conclusion: High levels of depression, anxiety, and burden were observed among the caregivers of patients with cancer. These findings underline the importance of paying close attention to the needs and psychological challenges of this population.
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Caregiver burden is well documented among cancer caregivers, who often report high levels of anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders.
“Caregiver burden, defined as the perceived adverse effect of caregiving on emotional, social, financial, physical, and spiritual functioning, is well documented among cancer caregivers, who often report high levels of anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders.”
From The burdens, coping strategies, and unmet needs of family caregivers of Chinese patients with lymphoma receiving commercial CAR-T-cell therapy: A qualitative study (2026) · cites this paper as [20]
The Abstract Conclusion and Discussion report high levels of caregiver burden, anxiety, and depression among family caregivers of patients with cancer. The paper does not report sleep disorders among caregivers. Its Methods section describes emotional, social, financial, and physical effects of caregiving, but does not include spiritual functioning in that description. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPrior studies have reported that the presence of depression is related to caregiver burden.
“Estudios han reportado que la edad (11-14), el nivel educativo (12), el tiempo como cuidador (12), su calidad de vida (15), el ser el único responsable de cuidar (14) y la presencia de depresión (13, 16) se relacionaron con sobrecarga en el cuidador.”
From Factores relacionados con sobrecarga del cuidador informal de pacientes con cáncer avanzado (2024) · cites this paper as [13]
Prior studies have reported that caregiver age is related to caregiver burden.
“Estudios han reportado que la edad (11-14), el nivel educativo (12), el tiempo como cuidador (12), su calidad de vida (15), el ser el único responsable de cuidar (14) y la presencia de depresión (13, 16) se relacionaron con sobrecarga en el cuidador.”
From Factores relacionados con sobrecarga del cuidador informal de pacientes con cáncer avanzado (2024) · cites this paper as [13]
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Factores relacionados con sobrecarga del cuidador informal de pacientes con cáncer avanzado
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- Authors
- Karimi Moghaddam, Z., Rostami, M., Zeraatchi, A., Mohammadi Bytamar, J., Saed, O., & Zenozian, S.
- Affiliations
- Zanjan University of Medical Sciences (IR)
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2023-03-28
- Volume
- 14
- Pages
- 1059605-1059605
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10086361
- OpenAlex
- W4361189088
- Cited by
- 139
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 50 · 2025: 51 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 4
- FWCI
- 57.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Nursing care and research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Family Caregiving in Mental Illness
- Keywords
- caregiver burden, depression, anxiety, family caregivers, cancer patients, caregiver mental health, caregiver education, caregiver income, supplementary health insurance, Zarit Burden Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, ECOG performance status, caregiver support programs, caregiver training programs
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