Longitudinal associations between caregiver burden and patient and spouse distress in couples coping with lung cancer

Purpose While spouses play a vital role in the care of cancer patients, caregiving exerts a physical and psychological toll. Caregiving burden may not only compromise spouses’ quality of life but also the quality of care and support they are able to provide. Consequently, spousal caregiving burden may also negatively impact patients’ psychological adjustment. However, the effect of caregiving burden on patients’ psychological distress is unknown. Thus, this 6-month longitudinal study examined the associations between caregiving burden and distress in both lung cancer patients and their spouses. Methods Patients and their spouses individually completed questionnaires within 1 month of treatment initiation (baseline) and at 3- and 6-month follow-up. Distress was measured with the Brief Symptom Inventory and caregiving burden with the Caregiver Reaction Assessment. Results Multilevel modeling of data from 158 couples revealed that baseline spouses’ reports of caregiving-related health problems were significantly associated with 3-month ( p