Associations between caregiving worries and psychophysical well-being. An investigation on home-cared cancer patients family caregivers.

PURPOSE: Caregiving to a family member with cancer might have health implications. However, limited research has investigated the psychophysical health of home-cared cancer patients family caregivers. In a previous study, we have found that a prolonged worry in daily life is a crucial variable compared to caregivers' psychophysical symptomatology. This investigation was designed to further examine the well-being of family caregivers, explore the domains of worry, and assess to what extent "content-dependent" worry could be associated with the caregivers' health
METHODS: The sample consisted of 100 family caregivers of oncological patients assisted at home. Participants completed a battery of self-report questionnaires (Penn State Worry Questionnaire, Worry Domain Questionnaire, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Family Strain Questionnaire Short Form, and Psychophysiological Questionnaire of the Battery CBA 2.0).
RESULTS: The level of worry was medium-high among participants, and caregivers worry more about their occupation and future. Depression, anxiety, and somatic symptomatology levels resulted mild, while strain level resulted high. Statistical analyses confirm the conclusions of the previous study, revealing a significant positive correlation between worry levels and caregivers' psychophysical health. Innovatively, it has been highlighted that who has higher scores of content-dependent worry shows also higher levels of strain, somatic symptoms, anxiety, and depression
CONCLUSIONS: Not only trait-worry ("content-free" measure) but also content-dependent worry is associated with strain and negative health outcomes. People may worry about different targets, and it might be useful to further investigate what are the specific worriers of family caregivers in order to promote their physical and emotional well-being.