A Prospective Study to Compare Caregivers' Knowledge and Perception of Cancer Pain with Patients' Pain Assessment and to Evaluate their Quality of Life

Abstract

Objectives: Family caregivers (FCGs) play a crucial role in the home care of terminally ill patients. Therefore, evaluating their comprehension of patients' symptoms and doctors' advice becomes crucial. Moreover, this might negatively impact their quality of life (QOL). Thus, the purpose of the study was to examine FCGs' perception and understanding of cancer pain in relation to patients' pain assessments, as well as the effect this has on their own QOL.

Materials and methods: The family pain questionnaire (FPQ) and patient pain questionnaire (PPQ) were used for both patient as well as their FCGs. The scores for each subscale, knowledge, and experience were calculated. Furthermore, FCGs' own QOL was assessed using the caregiver quality of life index-cancer (CQOLC) questionnaire. Results were statistically analysed.

Results: The FCGs of 93 individuals were examined. The Cronbach alphas for the current dataset showed that the FPQ (0.754) and PPQ (0.759) overall reliability scales were satisfactory. The knowledge, experience, and total average scores for the PPQ (FPQ) subscales were reported as 35.91 (35.31), 27.19 (26.86), and 63.10 (62.17), respectively. The knowledge, experience, and overall scales of the PPQ (FPQ) were evaluated to provide median scores of 37 (36), 28 (25), and 65 (62) correspondingly. A t-test was used to determine the significance of the observed average differences (d) for knowledge (0.602), experience (0.333), and overall (0.935). The results showed that there were no significant differences (P > 0.05). An inverse relationship was elicited between the total QOL and the pain assessment scores of FCGs, as well as the age of the patient. The difference was, however, majorly statistically non-significant (P > 0.5). Further, statistical significance was found only between the burden component of the CQOLC and the age of the patients (P = 0.034), as well as total pain knowledge (P = 0.007) and total pain scores (P = 0.001) of the FCGs'.

Conclusion: As per our analysis, FCGs had less knowledge and experience of patients' pain, though statistically , it was not significant. The age of the patient, as well as total pain knowledge and total pain scores of the FCGs' were found to affect the QOL of FCGs'. Studies with large sample sizes might help in strengthening the findings.

Keywords: Caregiver; Knowledge; Pain; Patient; Quality of life.