Care Burden in Parents of Children with Leukemia: A Cross-Sectional Study in the West of Iran

Background Parental caregiver burden is an important priority in children's oncology researches. The present study aimed to determine care burden among parents of children with leukemia. Materials and Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted among a total of 209 parents of children with leukemia who referred to Dr. Mohammad Kermanshahi Hospital, Kermanshah city, in the West of Iran, in 2018. Parents were surveyed with the caregiver burden scale and baseline characteristics items based on interview. Pearson correlation, t-test, and ANOVA analysis at 95% significant level were used in data analysis with SPSS software version16.0. Results The mean of care burden score was 56.43+9.32 and ranged from 0 to 88. 10.7%, 79.7%, and 9.6% of parents had low, moderate and high care burden, respectively.The higher care burden score was associated with the lower age of parents (r= -0.255, P < 0.001), higher educational level (P=0.028), and better economic status (P=0.001). Conclusion Our findings indicated that most of the parents of children with leukemia had moderate-to-high levels of care burden. Thus, health care providers are expected to be more available to respond to their requests and pay more attention to planning educational programs.