Caregivers' morbidity in palliative care unit: predicting by gender, age, burden and self-esteem

This study assesses psychological distress suffered by caregivers of patients with a disease at an advanced and terminal state admitted at a palliative care unit. Specifically, these areas were examined in how distress was perceived: the contribution of caregiving burden, caregivers' self-esteem, caregivers' age and gender. The sample constituted of 159 caregivers. Measurements included the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to assess distress, the shortened version of the Zarit Burden Inventory and Rosenberg self-esteem scale. Approximately 77% of the caregivers reported probable significant distress (HADS a parts per thousand yen12), with a similar proportion with anxiety (76.1%) and depression (77.4%) within the caregivers' symptomatology. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the caregivers' self-esteem (p < 0.01) and caregivers' burden (p < 0.01) were stronger predictors of caregivers' distress than the socio-demographic characteristics, age or gender (p < 0.05). A high prevalence of morbidity was noticed in caregivers of patients admitted at the palliative care unit. The early provision of psychological support to caregivers by healthcare staff may indeed help to decrease comorbidity symptoms.