The Evaluation of the Burden and Burnout Levels of the Caregivers of the Inpatients in Palliative Care

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the care burden and burnout levels of caregivers for patients hospitalized in palliative care. This descriptive study was conducted with 76 caregivers who were hospitalized in the palliative care services of a university and state hospital between 02.12.2019 and 02.06.2022 in Turkey. After obtaining the permissions of the ethics committee and the institution, the data were collected with the Descriptive Characteristics Form, Palliative Performance Scale, Caregivers Burden Inventory, and Maslach Burnout Inventory. The total score of the Caregivers Burden Inventory was 50.31±15.37, sub-dimensions of time-dependency burden, developmental burden, physical burden, social burden, and emotional burden scores were 18.30±3.23, 10.94±6.03, 13.54±5.99, 4.09±4.68, and 3.42±3.89, respectively. The Maslach Burnout Inventory sub-dimensions were emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment, with mean scores of 24.78±10.33, 11.59±4.20, and 28.64±5.67, respectively. The mean Palliative Performance Scale score of the patients was 32.76±16.86. As the burden of caregivers increased, so did their exhaustion scores. Caregivers had moderate care burdens, high time dependency and physical burdens, high emotional exhaustion, and low personal accomplishment burnout. All patients who were cared for were bedridden. The presence of incontinence in the patient affected the time dependency burden of the caregivers, and the presence of chronic disease in the caregiver and living with the patient also affected the caregivers' emotional exhaustion. These results show that studies must be conducted to develop multidisciplinary interventions to reduce caregivers’ care burden and burnout.