Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Arcadia University, 214 Brubaker Hall, 450S. Easton Rd., Glenside, PA, 19038, USA.
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Support Care Cancer. 2021 Jul;29(7):4137-4146. doi: 10.1007/s00520-020-05933-9. Epub 2021 Jan 6.
Cancer caregiving is shown to be a burdensome experience in typical times. The purpose of this study was to describe cancer caregivers' emotional, physical, and financial strain during the COVID-19 pandemic and compared to preCOVID-19, and explore racial and ethnic variations in caregiver strain.
We conducted a cross-sectional online survey using Lucid, LLC, incorporating quotas for race, ethnicity, gender and age. Caregivers had to be adults living in the USA and currently providing unpaid care to an adult cancer patient (i.e., during COVID-19) and prior to the pandemic. We assessed the caregivers' emotional, physical, and financial strain and asked them to compare to preCOVID-19 caregiving. Analyses included descriptive and linear regression adjusting for sociodemographic and caregiving-related variables.
A total of 285 caregivers met eligibility, and most were nonHispanic white (72.3%) and female (59.6%). Based on a scale of "1: Much lower" to "5: Much higher", the financial, physical and emotional strain/stress experienced by caregivers compared to preCOVID-19 was, on average, 3.52 (SD: 0.82; range: 1-5) for financial strain, 3.61 (SD: 0.86; range: 1-5) for physical strain, and 3.88 (SD: 0.89; range: 1-5) for emotional stress. NonHispanic black caregivers were significantly more likely than nonHispanic white caregivers to indicate that caregiving-related financial strain was higher than preCOVID-19. Moreover, Hispanic caregivers compared to nonHispanic white caregivers reported caregiving-related emotional stress was higher than preCOVID-19.
These findings suggest a need to be attentive to racial and ethnic variations in emotional and financial strain and provide targeted support in clinical care and via public policy during a public health crisis.
在正常时期，癌症护理被证明是一种负担。本研究的目的是描述癌症护理人员在 COVID-19 大流行期间的情绪、身体和经济压力，并将其与 COVID-19 之前进行比较，并探讨护理人员压力的种族和民族差异。
我们使用 Lucid，LLC 进行了一项横断面在线调查，纳入了种族、民族、性别和年龄的配额。护理人员必须是居住在美国的成年人，并且目前正在为成年癌症患者提供无偿护理（即在 COVID-19 期间），并且必须在大流行之前提供护理。我们评估了护理人员的情绪、身体和经济压力，并要求他们将其与 COVID-19 之前的护理进行比较。分析包括描述性分析和线性回归，调整了社会人口统计学和护理相关变量。
共有 285 名护理人员符合资格，其中大多数是非西班牙裔白人（72.3%）和女性（59.6%）。根据“1：低得多”到“5：高得多”的量表，与 COVID-19 之前相比，护理人员经历的财务、身体和情绪压力/紧张程度平均为 3.52（SD：0.82；范围：1-5）用于财务压力，3.61（SD：0.86；范围：1-5）用于身体压力，3.88（SD：0.89；范围：1-5）用于情绪压力。非西班牙裔黑人护理人员比非西班牙裔白人护理人员更有可能表示与护理相关的经济压力高于 COVID-19 之前。此外，与非西班牙裔白人护理人员相比，西班牙裔护理人员报告与护理相关的情绪压力高于 COVID-19 之前。
这些发现表明，需要关注情绪和经济压力的种族和民族差异，并在公共卫生危机期间通过临床护理和公共政策提供有针对性的支持。
