The Strain and Hopelessness in Family Caregivers of Patients with Gynecologic Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy

This study aimed to investigate strain and hopelessness among family caregivers of patients with gynecologic cancer and corelates patients’ symptom burden. This research was planned as a descriptive, cross-sectional and correlation study between May and December 2010, using a sample of 338 patient and family caregivers of gynecologic cancer patients. The results of this study show that family caregivers of patient with gynecologic cancer are at risk for hopelessness and strain. The strongest positive correlation was found between strain and hopelessness (r= 0.23, p < 0.004). Patients reported various problems with their chemotherapy experiences, including nause, feeling weak, mouth problems, and hair loss. Some characteristics were significant predictors of the caregiver's strain and hopelessness such as age, gender, education, income level, had a child, caregiving duration, cancer type, stage of cancer, chemotherapy cycles, lenght of disease, caregiving hours, level of personal and social support, knowledge about diseases, other caregiving responsibilities, and patient’s symptoms (p< 0.05). It is our hope that this study will inform oncologists, oncology nurses and mental health workers about the assessment and treatment options for strain and hopelessness in family caregiver. The findings provide a base for future research.