Impact of Oncologic Disease on Relatives: Psychopathological Burden and Symtomatology, RElation and Implications

Abstract

Background: having cancer is one of the most fearful life events in the world, and one of the greatest stressors in the life cycle, causing suffering, worries and losses in the patient and family. lt is the family that takes the majority of responsibility for caring, affecting the physical, emotional and psychological health of the caregiver. Objective: to evaluate the psychopathological symptomatology and the burden of family members of cancer patients and to study the relationship between this two variables. Methodology: participants in the study were 96 family members of cancer patients, aged 18-67, responding to the Caregiver Overload Scale (Sequeira, 2009) and the Brief Symptom lnventory (Canavarro, 1999). Results: suggest moderate leveis of burden, with subjective overload being the most affected. Anxiety and depression are the most prevalent psychopathological symptoms. Psychopathological overload and symptomatology vary according to sex, residence, occupational situation, degree of kinship, being a caregiver, hospital follow-up and co­habitation. lt was verified the existence of a statistically significant relationship between burden and psychopathology. Conclusion: it fundamental for the improvement of the care provided to attend to the psychological health of the relatives, namely, of the caregivers.