Journal of Religion and Health

, Volume 56, Issue 1, pp 226–237 | Cite as

Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life Among Caregivers of Patients with Cancer Diagnosis: A Cross-Sectional Study in Saudi Arabia

  • Khalid M. Almutairi
  • Abdulaziz A. Alodhayani
  • Wadi B. Alonazi
  • Jason M. Vinluan
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted over 5 months in two tertiary hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 5-month period was from November 2014 to March 2015. The survey instrument used was a Short-Form Health Survey SF-36 (the RAND 36-item) questionnaire that measure QOL of the caregivers. Our study subjects included 289 randomly selected Saudi caregivers. Almost all the mean scores were increased (higher than 50) with the exception of levels of energy/fatigue. Role functioning/physical scored the highest (81.02 ± 35.33) followed by physical functioning (76.34 ± 29.83). Other domains of QOL scored (71.02 ± 35.33) for the role functioning/emotional; pain (71.15 ± 28.48), emotional well-being (60.58 ± 18.44); social functioning (58.39 ± 25.83), and general health (54.32 ± 17.08). In multivariate regression analysis, the model predicts that the contributions of age, gender, and the cancer type of patients were a statistically significant predictor with the QOL domains of caregivers. Cancer caregivers in Saudi Arabia caring for patients more than 1 year after diagnosis reported favorable QOL. Factors associated with QOL domains included age, gender of the caregivers, and the types of cancer patients. These findings are encouraging as a baseline for providing more information to future studies in QOL of caregivers.

Keywords

Caregivers Quality of life Cancer Saudi Arabia 

Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to extend their sincere appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University for funding this Research group No (RG# 1435-024).

Conflict of interest

The authors certify that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organization regarding the material discussed in the manuscript.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Ethical Approval

Approval from the ethical research committee of the King Saud University (CAMS 15/3536) and the hospitals (King Khalid University Hospital and King Fahad Medical City Hospital) was sought prior to the beginning of the study. All procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution and the 1964 Helsinki declaration.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Khalid M. Almutairi
    • 1
  • Abdulaziz A. Alodhayani
    • 2
  • Wadi B. Alonazi
    • 3
  • Jason M. Vinluan
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Community Health Science, College of Applied Medical ScienceKing Saud UniversityRiyadhSaudi Arabia
  2. 2.Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of MedicineKing Saud UniversityRiyadhSaudi Arabia
  3. 3.College of Business AdministrationKing Saud UniversityRiyadhSaudi Arabia

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