Family Caregivers’ Burden, Patients’ Resourcefulness, and Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients With Colorectal Cancer

Objectives: To examine how family caregivers’ burden and patients’ resourcefulness influence each other and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with colorectal cancer.

Sample & Setting: This study was conducted in an outpatient clinic at a medical center in Taichung, Taiwan. A total of 84 patient–caregiver dyads were recruited, and 43 patients had advanced-stage cancer. Patients and their caregivers signed consent forms individually. Patients were aged 29–77 years, and caregivers were aged 22–75 years.

Methods & Variables: The theory of resourceful-ness and QOL guided this study. An F test and multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationships among demographic characteristics, family caregivers’ burden, patients’ resourcefulness, and patients’ HRQOL.

Results: Higher-resourcefulness patients tended to have caregivers with higher self-esteem and fewer health impacts. Caregivers with fewer impacts to health and finances and higher self-esteem were predictive of higher resourcefulness in patients. Higher patient resourcefulness, fewer caregiver disruptions to daily schedule and impacts to finances, and higher caregiver self-esteem were predictors of patients’ HRQOL.

Implications for Nursing: When developing and evaluating education programs about cognitive skills training for patients with cancer, nurses should take family caregivers’ burden into consideration to support optimal patient outcomes and HRQOL.