Quality of Life and Needs Assessment of Cancer Patients' Caregivers in the Saudi Culture

Hani S Almugti; Maram M Shaiea; Yazeed M Alhammadi; Razan A Mawkili; Shereen Alemam; Rawabi A Hamas; Abdulrahman M Jurebi; Siraj B Alharthi; Feras I Al-Hazmi; Mohai E Bali; Haitham F Asiri; Meshal A Al Jutayli; Farees Y Almohaimeed; Eman M Owaisheer; Abdul-Qader M Alaa Adeen

doi:10.7759/cureus.27591

Quality of Life and Needs Assessment of Cancer Patients' Caregivers in the Saudi Culture

Cureus. 2022 Aug 2;14(8):e27591. doi: 10.7759/cureus.27591. eCollection 2022 Aug.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, King Saud bin Abdul-Aziz University for Health Sciences, Jeddah, SAU.
² Pharmacy, Jazan University, Jazan, SAU.
³ College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, SAU.
⁴ College of Medicine, Jazan University, Jazan, SAU.
⁵ Respiratory Therapy, King Abdullah Medical City Specialist Hospital, Makkah, SAU.
⁶ Infection Control, King Fahad Hospital, Tabuk, SAU.
⁷ College of Medicine, Batterjee Medical College, Jeddah, SAU.
⁸ Biological Sciences, King Abdul-Aziz University, Taif, SAU.
⁹ Adult Intensive Care Unit, King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Dammam, SAU.
¹⁰ Dental Public Health, Ministry of Health Holdings, Asir, SAU.
¹¹ Pharmacy, Hayat National Hospital, Qassim, SAU.
¹² College of Medicine, Qassim University, Qassim, SAU.
¹³ Radiology, Maternal and Child Hospital, Hafar Al Batin, SAU.
¹⁴ College of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdul-Aziz University for Health Sciences, Makkah, SAU.

Abstract

Background: Cancer is a chronic health condition that requires long-term treatment and care. Diagnosis of cancer is a family crisis that has a bad impact on patients and their caregivers, which can worsen the quality of life of the entire family members. It would be relevant to highlight the changes in the quality of life among cancer patients' caregivers within the Saudi culture to strengthen their involvement in the plan of treating cancer patients.

Objective: To assess the needs and quality of life of Saudi cancer patients' caregivers by using the World Health Organization quality of life questionnaire WHOQOL-BREF and the Family Inventory of Needs (FIN) questionnaire for family caregivers.

Materials and methods: Of 376 caregivers invited to participate, 270 (72%) accepted and completed the questionnaire. The study was carried out in outpatient clinics and oncology inpatient wards of Princess Noorah Oncology Center in King Abdul-Aziz Medical City Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Results: The study found that 53 % of Saudi caregivers reported a good quality of life in the following domains: psychological, social relationship, and environment. On the other hand, the lower quality of life scores were stated for the physical health domain in almost two third of participants (67 %). Poor quality of life was reported among the male caregivers of the older age group who had a lower level of education and had a short term of caring (fewer than 12 months). Regarding the need assessment, most of the 20 needs items were rated important and were related to patient care. Whereas, the least important needs were related to the caregivers' health.

Conclusion: There was a significant association between quality of life scores and the demographic characteristics of the caregivers, addressing these factors in addition to the assessment of the caregivers' needs during medical care will provide holistically care for the patients and their caregivers to increase their quality of life.

Keywords: cancer; caregivers; needs; quality of life; saudi culture.