Assessment of a short subjective burden measure as a screening tool for at-risk carers of geriatric oncology survivors — ASN Events
  1. Schedule
  2. COSA Posters: Education and Supportive Care
  3. Assessment of a short subjective burden measure as a screening tool for at-risk carers of geriatric oncology survivors

Assessment of a short subjective burden measure as a screening tool for at-risk carers of geriatric oncology survivors (#874)

Simeon B. W Jones 1 , Hayley S Whitford 1 2 , Melissa J Bond 1 3
  1. School of Psychology, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
  2. Cancer Council Australia, Sydney, Surry Hills, NSW, Australia
  3. Psychology Department, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Aims: To identify the characteristics of carers and their recipients (geriatric cancer survivors), carer psychological morbidity/resilience, and psychological variables and carer/survivor characteristics predictive of subjective carer burden. Methods: Of 100 anticipated respondents, 76 carers of geriatric cancer survivors aged ≥ 70 years completed a cross-sectional questionnaire including study-specific questions on carer/survivor demographics and health characteristics alongside standardised measures of depression, anxiety, stress, coping, quality of life, mindfulness, and subjective burden. Results: Carers were mainly female, elderly (M = 65 years) spouses, not working, sole care-giving 35+ hours per week. Survivors were on average 76 years old, 53.9% male, on average 3.3 years since diagnosis, mainly reporting no or limited symptoms. According to the DASS21, 19.1% and 23.6% of carers reported moderate-to-extremely severe anxiety and depression, respectively. Daughters compared to spouses showed higher degrees of psychological morbidity, as did those caring for survivors > 5 years post-diagnosis. Given that all psychological variables assessed in the current study were significantly associated (p < .02) with subjective carer burden, all variables with moderate univariate associations r ≥ .30 were included in a linear regression. A significant model (p = .000) accounted for 59% of subjective carer burden variability (adjusted R2). Of individual predictors, higher depression (β = .34), use of emotion-focused coping (β = .30), and greater years since diagnosis (β = .25) were significant. Other predictors (stress, quality of life, problem-focused, and dysfunctional coping) were not significant. Conclusions: The Brief Assessment Scale for Caregivers of the Medically Ill (BASC), a 14-item measure of subjective carer burden appears to be a short and easy-to-administer scale and thus could be successfully employed as a screening tool for psychological morbidity (or resilience) in carers of geriatric cancer survivors. Future research should trial the BASC for identifying at-risk individuals who may require further psychological intervention.