Psychological Burden on Cancer Patients and Their Caregivers during COVID-19 Pandemic in India

• Published in: Taiwan jing shen yi xue = Taiwanese journal of psychiatry Vol. 35; no. 4; pp. 172 - 179
• Main Authors: Nagarkar, Raj, Patil, Roshankumar, Gadade, Kavita, Paleja, Nishtha, Bhamre, Rasika, Ramesh, Yasam Venkata
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 台灣精神醫學會 01.10.2021; Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd; Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
• Subjects: Cancer patients; Care and treatment; caregiver strain index; Caregivers; Control; cross-sectional study; Epidemics; Health aspects; India; perceived stress scale; Psychological aspects; psychosocial caring; Social aspects; Surveys; India; caregiver strain index; cross-sectional study; psychosocial caring; perceived stress scale
• ISSN: 1028-3684; 2666-2078
• DOI: 10.4103/TPSY.TPSY_35_21

Objective: Psychological burden is a serious issue facing by the cancer patients and their caregivers (CGs) around the world during the pandemic situations such as COVID-19. In the present study, we assessed the psychological burden on cancer patients and their CGs during this COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The study was done using standardized questionnaire of the most validated scales - perceived stress scale and the caregiver strain index. Results: A total of 334 patients and 257 CGs participated in the present study. Majority of the patients experienced moderate to high level of stress (n = 239 [72%]), while CGs experienced a high level of strain (n = 132 [52%]). In the patient's cohort, stress was dependent significantly on education (p ＜ 0.01), gender (p ＜ 0.05), on active treatment (p ＜ 0.001), and surgery (p ＜ 0.05). Among CGs, strain was significantly affected by less education CGs (p ＜ 0.001), patients more on active treatment (p ＜ 0.01), and more primary gastrointestinal tumors (p ＜ 0.01). From multivariate analysis of pandemic-specific factors, difficulty in transportation (p ＜ 0.01) and increased financial burden (p ＜ 0.05) were found to be significant influencing factors affecting the stress level of patients. Conclusion: To overcome the psychological burden due to lockdown, we suggest the initiation of psychosocial caring in all the necessary patients and their CGs to demonstrate its benefits in the long term.