Investigating the relationship between caregiver burden and quality of life in burn care

Aim: This study aimed to examine the relationship between caregiver burden and quality of life among primary caregivers of burn survivors receiving inpatient treatment in an acute care setting. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive and correlational study included 53 primary caregivers of hospitalized burn patients, recruited from the Burn Care Unit of a tertiary hospital in Turkey between August 2022 and January 2023. Participants were aged 18 or older, identified as the primary caregiver, and able to communicate in Turkish. Individuals with psychiatric disorders were excluded. Data were collected through face-to-face structured interviews using the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) and the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), in which higher scores indicate better quality of life. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and linear regression were used to analyze the data. Results: The caregivers had a mean age of 38.75 +/- 10.76 years; 71.7 % were female, and 50.9 % had completed only primary education. The average caregiving duration was 10.6 days. The mean ZBI score was 22.54 +/- 15.11, indicating moderate burden. Demographic variables did not significantly affect caregiver burden (p > .05). A moderate negative correlation was found between caregiver burden and their emotional (r = -0.367, p = .007), psychological (r = -0.313, p = .023), and physical functioning (r = -0.355, p = .009) subdomains of the SF-36. Conclusion: A inverse relationship was observed between caregiver burden and caregiver quality of life, especially in emotional, psychological, and physical functioning domains. Although demographic factors were not influential, lower quality of life was associated with greater caregiver burden.