The correlation between caregiver burden with depression and quality of life among informal caregivers of hemodialysis and thalassemia patients during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

Lifelong provision of care to chronically ill patients increase the risk of physical and mental diseases in informal caregivers and adversely affects their quality of life. The present study examined the correlation between caregiver burden, depression, and quality of life among the informal caregivers of thalassemia and hemodialysis patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in southeastern Iran. This cross-sectional correlational study used convenience sampling to select 200 informal caregivers involved in providing direct care for patients undergoing hemodialysis (n = 70) and patients with thalassemia (130) for at least 6 months. A demographic questionnaire, Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI), the Quality-Of-Life Questionnaire (SF-36), and the Zarit Burden Interview were used to collect data in 2021. The data were analyzed with SPSS software (version 19) using frequency, percentage, independent samples t-test, ANOVA, and multivariate regression analysis. Most of the informal caregivers of the thalassemia and hemodialysis patients (58% and 43%) reported moderate levels of caregiver burden. There were significant correlations between the caregiver burden and depression (P