Education, employment, and socio-economic status as determinants of the cancer caregiving experience in India

Pages: 1729-1736
Shoma Chakrawarty (Department of Psychology, Nanavati Womens College, Mumbai, Maharashtra)
Dhanalakshmi D. (Department of Applied Psychology, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu)

Today, we have an unprecedented number of families dealing with cancer. Research exists to support the fact that cancer is increasing in prevalence across the globe, and that it is more devastating in developing nations. This could, in part, be linked to the socio-demographic context of caregivers in the developing nations. To explore this facet, a cross-sectional survey of 190 primary family caregivers of cancer patients was surveyed using the General Health Questionnaire, Caregiver Quality of Life-Cancer Scale, and the Brief COPE along with a detailed socio-demographic form. Results of inferential tests and post-hoc analysis revealed that caregivers with better education, employment, and economic stability experienced better general health and fewer disruptions in quality of life. In contrast, low-literacy caregivers and financially distressed caregivers used significantly elevated levels of dysfunctional coping strategies. The results clearly indicate the need to extend supportive services, like counselling and psycho-education, to cancer caregivers in hospitals. More research like this could be used to make informed suggestions for macro-level policy measures, like paid caregiving leave or other affordances for caregivers to cope effectively.