Informal caregiving in head and neck cancer: caregiving activities and psychological well‐being

The purpose of this study was to quantify the general cancer support activities that long‐term carers of head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors engage in; and the relationships between these care activities and psychological well‐being. Respondents answered a survey detailing their caring activities, the amount of time that they spent on those activities and how comfortable they felt engaging in them. Psychological well‐being was assessed by the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales‐21. A total of 197 carers took part in the study. The majority (76%) were women, mean age 57.4. Mean time since diagnosis was 6.2 years. In the past month, 45% of carers did not spend any extra time per week helping their relative/friend with general caring activities such as cleaning the house; 31% spent 1–19 hr/week and 23% spent 20 or more hours/week doing so. Most carers were comfortable assisting their relative/friend, though more carers felt uncomfortable assisting with HNC‐specific support tasks (31% uncomfortable helping with medication) compared with general support tasks (7% uncomfortable helping with appointments). Feeling uncomfortable with head and neck‐specific care tasks was a significant predictor of experiencing depression and anxiety.