Spiritual Well-Being and Care Burden among Families of Patients with Terminal Cancer: Is Emotional Distress a Crucial Thing?

Purpose: This study investigated the association between spiritual well-being and care burden among family caregivers of patients with terminal cancer.

Methods: Data from 172 family caregivers from nine hospice care units in South Korea were analyzed using multivariate regression models. Spiritual well-being was measured using the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy - Spiritual Well-being questionnaire, and the subjective care burden on family caregivers was assessed using the Caregiver Reaction Assessment tool.

Results: The current study demonstrated a positive association between spiritual well-being and family caregivers' care burden, which is consistent with a previous study that evaluated anxiety. On the subscales, disrupted schedules were positively associated with the meaning/peace domain. Further analysis revealed that adjusting for emotional distress changed the direction of the association or mitigated the magnitude of the association.

Conclusion: Among family caregivers of patients with cancer, spiritual well-being reflects their care burden, in which emotional distress may play an important role.