RELATIONSHIP OF CAREGIVER REACTIONS AND DEPRESSION TO CANCER-PATIENTSSYMPTOMS, FUNCTIONAL-STATES AND DEPRESSION - A LONGITUDINAL VIEW

This research examined, in a sample of N = 150 cancer patients and car egivers, the relationships among patient's physical functioning, depre ssion and symptomatology, impact on caregivers' schedule and health, a nd caregiver depression, as well as the changes in these variables ove r time. A measure of caregivers' optimism was also included in the ana lyses. The disposition of caregiver optimism was a strong predictor of caregiver reactions to the burdens of caring, and seemed to play the role of a personality characteristic which was for the most part indep endent of patient variables. Levels of patient symptoms and their chan ge over time were both strongly linked to change in patient immobility over time. Patient symptoms, and to a lesser degree patient immobilit y, were strong predictors of patient depression, which in turn predict ed caregiver depression. in general, as patients' needs subsided, care givers perceived fewer reactions to the burdens of caring. Caregivers' reactions were clearly distinct, and were influenced differently by d ifferent patient variables. However, all three types of caregivers' re actions were influenced by caregivers' optimism. Oncologists, nurses a nd other health care professionals involved in the care of patients wi th cancer should consider this potentially important personal characte ristic in the assessment of need for and the development of interventi ons designed to assist patients with cancer and their family caregiver s.