CARE BURDEN OF PRIMARY CAREGIVERS OF CANCER PATIENTS TREATED AT THE ONCOLOGY CENTEROF NAM DINH GENERAL HOSPITAL 2020

Abstract

Objective: To describe the current state of care burden of primary caregivers of cancer patients. Method: Cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on 168 primary caregivers of cancer patients at the Oncology Center from December 2019 to July 2020. Results: Majority of caregivers are mainly female (66,1%) and relation to cancer patients, mainly husband or wife (47%), sons or daughters (47%). The caregiver’s daily average care time was 6,08 ± 1,71 hours. Caregivers have a rather high average burden of care (57,1%), and only 11,3% of caregivers have light burden. Average care burden score for cancer patients is 56,73 ± 12,5. Conclusion: Overall, all caregivers have care burden and the most at a moderate level.Therefore, it is necessary to conduct research to find out some factors related to the caregiver’s burden of care in order to reduce the burden on them.