Psychological Burden of Patients with Head and Neck Cancer Undergoing Radiotherapy and Their Family Caregivers: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

Background: The consequences of Head and neck cancer (HNC) affect both the person who receives the diagnosis and their family caregivers (FCs). Objective: To investigate the psychological status of patients and their FCs, and the burden of the FCs during radiotherapy. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with a questionnaire survey by convenience sampling method. Patients with HNC and their caregivers (both N = 85) from the radiotherapy department of our hospital were recruited between March 2021 and March 2022. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Chinese version of the Connor and Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) were used to assess the symptoms of anxiety and depression, psychological resilience, and the impact of care work, emotions and social lives of participants. Pearson’s correlation analysis and a Mann–Whitney test were used to analyse the association between the HADS and the CD-RISC scores of the patients. Results: About half of the patients (56.47%) and the caregivers (62.35%) have had anxiety. The average HADS-Anxiety scores, HADS-Depression scores, and CD-RISC scores of the patients with HNC were 7.4±1.9, 6.4±2.2, and 56.8±12.6. The “Strength” and “Resilience” scores of the patients were inversely related to their HADS anxiety scores (p < 0.05). The “Resilience” and “optimism” scores of them were inversely related to HADS depression scores (p < 0.05). The average ZBI score of the caregivers was 23.8±10.1; HADS anxiety scores and HADS depression scores of the caregivers were positively associated with total ZBI scores and individual burden scores (p < 0.05). Conclusion: More than half of patients with HNC undergoing radiotherapy have anxiety, and about a third have depression. The anxiety and depression status of the FCs of patients with HNC undergoing radiotherapy is related to caregiver burden, deserving the attention of clinical medical staff.