Effectiveness of a Brief Psychosocial Intervention on Quality of Life of Primary Caregivers of Iranian Children With Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Cancer in children has a great impact on primary caregiver quality of life (QOL).

Objective

This study examined the effectiveness of a brief psychosocial intervention (BPI) on QOL of Primary Caregivers of Children with Cancer (PCCCs).

Methods

Sixty-five PCCCs participated in a randomized controlled trial in Mahak Hospital and Rehabilitation Complex in Tehran, Iran. A 5-week long BPI (which comprised of counseling sessions and telephone follow-up) was delivered to the intervention group in addition to usual service, while the control group was provided with usual service. Data were collected using the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer-Persian version (CQOLC-P) prior to intervention, post-intervention, and at follow-up (i.e. 30 days after the intervention). Repeated measures analysis of variance analysis (ANOVA) was used to evaluate outcomes.

Results

Majority of the participants were mothers (95%), between ages of 24–47 years (95%) with children between ages of 2–12 years. Most child cancer diagnoses were for brain tumors (n = 31) and blood cancers (n = 17). Significant improvement was found within the intervention group on QOL (p < 0.001) including improvements on subscale measures of mental/emotional burden (p < 0.001), disruption (p < 0.001), and positive adaptation (p < 0.001), compared with the control group over time. There was no difference between the intervention and control groups on the financial subscale measure after intervention (p > 0.05).

Conclusion

BPI was an effective strategy to improve the quality of life of PCCCs. Similar interventions can be planned by practitioners to reduce the burden of childhood cancer on PCCCs.