Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #111477

Tekla V. Evans, MPH, Youngmee Kim, PhD, and Rachel Spillers, BA. Behavioral Research Center, American Cancer Society, 1599 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30329, 404-929-6868, tekla.evans@cancer.org

Approximately 10 million Americans with a history of cancer are alive today. The majority of them are over 65 and family members are their primary caregivers. No studies have examined how the effects of caregiving from a distance impact the daily schedule and levels of care-related stress among employed caregivers of cancer survivors. Currently, a total of 777 employed caregivers completed the American Cancer Society's National Quality of Life Survey: Caregivers (M=52 years old). The survey included measures of the impact of caregiving on their schedule (Caregiver Reaction Assessment) and care-related stress (Pearlin Stress Scale). Of those, 62% were female and 31% traveled. A general linear modeling analysis tested the effect of caregiver travel, controlling for the effects of their age, gender, and their care recipient's mental and physical functional status. Results showed that traveling caregivers reported lower levels of conflict in schedule (M=2.39) and care-related stress (M=1.68) than non-traveling caregivers (Ms=2.29, 1.70, respectively, ps<.01). Although these findings are inconsistent with existing literature for caregivers of Alzheimer's patients and frail elderly, they have significant implications for care of older individuals with cancer. These findings provide important implications for working caregivers who must travel to provide care. Health care professionals should encourage traveling caregivers to maintain their attitudes about cancer care and they should also advocate non-traveling caregivers to utilize community resources as respite care and encourage involvement from other family members to reduce their care-related stress.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Identify the prevalence of caregivers who traveled to provide care to cancer survivors.
• Distinguish between differences in conflict in schedule by whether or not the caregivers have to travel.
• Distinguish between differences in care-related stress by whether or not the caregivers have to travel.

Keywords: Caregivers, Cancer

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.