Health-related Quality of Life of Cancer Caregivers in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Abstract

Cancer caregiving has an impact on the quality of life (QOL) of the caregivers. This cross-sectional study determined the health-related QOL (HRQOL) of gastrointestinal cancer caregivers and associated factors across gender. A total of 323 respondents from major hospitals in Klang Valley completed HRQOL questionnaire from October 2017 to April 2018. Males had a better quality of life compared to females, mean HRQOL score 85.52 (SD=21.16) vs 77.66 (SD=21.36). The significant factors were: relationship between the caregiver and the patient; education level; employment status, marital status, household income and presence of disease. The gender role is vital for targeted intervention. Keywords: health-related quality of life; gastrointestinal cancer; caregivers; gender eISSN: 2398-4287© 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v5i15.2453.