Volume 24, Issue 103, May - June, 2020

The study of the effect of group training on stress of cancer patients’ caregivers in instructional hospitals of the Medical Sciences University of Zahedan

Arezoo Keykha¹, Fatemeh Kiani^2♦, Mojtaba Tasbandi³, Ali Navidian⁴

¹Pregnancy Health Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
²Pregnancy Health Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
³Assistant professor of radiotherapy, Zahedan University of medical sciences, Zahedan, Iran
⁴Pregnancy Health Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran

^♦Corresponding author
Pregnancy Health Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran Email: mmandana310@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Background: The cancer patients need help from nonofficial caretakers due to the cancer debilitating nature and its especial treatments. They have an important role of doing the patients daily affairs. The current study aimed to examine the effect of the group training on caretaking pressure and psychological reactions of cancer patients’ caretakers. Methods: It is a semi experimental study. One hundred cancer patients’ caretakers who had the inclusion criteria were selected by random sampling method from Khatam Al Anbia and Ali Ibn Abitaleb hospitals. After having allocated patients into two groups of control and case, at first before the intervention, the caretaking pressure questionnaire and the DASS21 were filled out by caretakers in both groups. The control group only had the routine cares. Intervention included strategies of crisis management and stress that was done in the case group during five individual sessions one time a week moreover its follow up took six weeks. After the above-mentioned time, the questionnaires were given to control and case control group then the post test was done. Results: Results of this study showed that the mean and SD of cancer patients caregivers age had been (34.68±11.48) and (37.08±11.58) in case control and the control group respectively. The mean and the SD of the stress index of the cancer patients caregivers in case control and the control group were respectively (8.56±5.90) (7.52±4.16) before the intervention and (9.20±4.52) (5.24±4.89) after the intervention. This change was significant in case control group (P=0.31) and (P=0.001) in the control group. Conclusion: Results indicated that providing group instructional plan for cancer patients’ caregivers reduces their stress therefore using this plan can be an effective method to decrease their psychological reactions. Thus, this plan can be used in medical centers in order to promote and maintain the caregivers’ mental health.

Keywords: caring stress, group instruction, cancer, stress

Medical Science, 2020, 24(103), 1036-1041

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