Coping strategies and anxiety in caregivers of palliative cancer patients.

The study purpose was to determine the relationship between coping strategies and anxiety in primary family caregivers of palliative cancer patients. A cross-sectional study was carried out in a Pain and Palliative Care Unit in Spain. Data were collected through interviews from fifty primary family caregivers of palliative cancer patients. Main research variables were: (1) dependent variable: anxiety (subscale of anxiety from Goldberg's scale); (2) independent variable: coping (Brief COPE); (3) control variables: functional capacity and perceived burden. Analyses comprised descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients and multiple linear regression. Anxiety was present in the majority of caregivers surveyed (76%). Anxiety was related to the perception of perceived burden (β = 0.42, P < 0.001), the emotion-focused coping (β = -0.28, P = 0.01) and dysfunctional coping (β = 0.41, P < 0.001), after adjusting for control variables. Thus, emotion-focused coping is negatively associated with anxiety, while dysfunctional coping is positively associated with anxiety. Problem-focused coping is not related to anxiety. Assessment of coping should be done in a systematic way in caregivers of palliative cancer patients.