Relationship of Perceived Social Support and Mental Health in Caregivers of Patients with Breast Cancer at Omid Hospital (Urmia, Iran)

Introduction & Aim: Mental health of caregivers of patients with breast cancer has an important role in cancer patients’ coping and adapting strategy towards their disease. They have main role at management of caring for the cancer patients. On the other hand, their social support could have significant effects on improving the quality of the care which they provide. Thus, this study was carried out in order to find out relationship of perceived social support and mental health in caregivers of patients with breast cancer at Omid Hospital (Urmia, Iran) during 2014.Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 232 main caregivers of patients being treated for breast cancer by convenience sampling. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) and the Personal Resource Questionnaire (PRQ) 85-Part II were used to assess caregivers mental health and perceived social support, respectively. The questionnaires were completed by interview by the researcher. Results: Data analysis showed that the mean scores of mental health was 55/1 (12/7) from total attainable score range of 0-84. The mean scores of perceived social support was 117.3(22.2) from total attainable score range of 25-175 with actual score of (66-164). Perceived social support was directly related with mental health and its subscales except social dysfunction (P<0/001). Conclusion: If health systems try to fix knowledge, physical, personal and socio- psychological issues of Caregivers of Patients with Breast Cancer, it will bring up psychological comfort not only for caregiversbut also patients would benefit its advantages. According to the socio-demographic issues of patients and their families, providing some socio - economic supports will cause more adaption of patients and their caregivers regarding cancer

کلیدواژه ها:

Breast Cancer ، Perceived Social Support ، Mental Health ، Caregivers