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. 2018 Aug 9:26:e3029.
doi: 10.1590/1518-8345.2521.3029.

Comfort level of caregivers of cancer patients receiving palliative care

[Article in English, Portuguese, Spanish]
Maisa Vitória Gayoso  1 , Marla Andréia Garcia de Avila  2 , Thays Antunes da Silva  3 , Rúbia Aguiar Alencar  2
Affiliations

Comfort level of caregivers of cancer patients receiving palliative care

[Article in English, Portuguese, Spanish]
Maisa Vitória Gayoso et al. Rev Lat Am Enfermagem. .

Abstract

Objective: To verify the association between the level of comfort of the caregiver and socio-demographic variables related to caregiving, and the patient's functional status and symptoms.

Method: Cross-sectional study with non-probabilistic intentional sample. The instruments Palliative Performance Scale (score 0 to 100%), Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (symptom scores from zero to ten) and Holistic Comfort Questionnaire (total score ranging from 49 to 294 and mean score from 1 to 6) were used. The relationship between comfort scores and independent variables was calculated by multiple linear regression.

Results: Fifty informal caregivers participated in the study - 80% were female, 32% were 60 years old or older, 36% were children of the patient, 58% had paid work and 60% did not have help in the care. The mean overall comfort was 4.52 points. A better functional status of the patients was associated with higher levels of comfort of the caregivers. Older caregivers who received helped in the care activities presented higher comfort scores.

Conclusion: The level of comfort of caregivers of cancer patients receiving palliative care was associated with socio-demographic variables and patients' functional status and symptoms.

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