Cancer Caregivers’ Quality of Life and Socioeconomic Wellbeing: A Cross-Sectional Study at Tertiary Care Academic Hospital in a Low Middle Income Country

Abstract

Introduction: Cancer is a chronic disease causing psychological, social and financial challenges, resulting in decreased quality of Life (QoL) of caregivers. In this study, we aim to assess the impact of cancer on caregivers’ QoL and their socioeconomic wellbeing. Methods: A Cross-sectional survey performed on total 121 caregivers of cancer patients who visited a public sector teaching hospital in Pakistan from Jun to Dec 2024. Average participant age was 35.7±11.2 years and 68% were females. The caregiver QoL assessment used a validated 35-item cancer-specific instrument score (0 - 140) points, and Socioeconomic status (SES) was determined through modified Kuppuswamy scale. Results: Our study showed that most caregivers belonged to lower SES with “Upper Lower Class (IV)” representing 62.0% of the sample, rest were "Lower Middle Class (III)” 24.0%, "Lower Class (V)” 9.9%, and “Upper Middle Class (II)” 4.1%. The mean QoL score was 92.7±20.5 points ranging from 48 to 133. The QoL scale achieved excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.917). SES class IV caregivers had a highest mean QoL scores of 95.3±19.1. Demographic data on SES class were non-significant (F=1.31, p=0.27). QoL had weak, nonsignificant associations with education, occupation, and income (p > 0.05). SES had no significant effect in Multivariate regression analysis. Conclusion: Cancer caregivers have moderately impaired QoL which is indicative of burden of caring their loved ones. While we did not find high differences of QoL among caregivers of various socioeconomic strata, this may be because most caregivers had highly burdensome roles irrespective of SES.