The Relationship between the Care Burden, Anxiety, and Social Support Levels of Mothers of Children with Cancer

Abstract

OBJECTIVE This descriptive study was conducted to determine the relationship between the care burden, anxiety, and social support levels of the mothers who had children with cancer and affecting factors. METHODS This study was conducted with 43 mothers of children with cancer in a university hospital. Data were collected by the Beck Anxiety Scale, the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. RESULTS The mean age of the mothers was 37.46±9.67 old years and the duration of cancer diagnosis was 10.57±12.59 months. The primary caregivers of 83.7% of children were their mothers. It was determined that 76.7% of mothers had a change in their social life after their children diagnosis. There was a positive correlation between the mothers’ Beck Anxiety Scale scores and the ZBI scores (r=0.508; p=0.01). There was a statistically significant difference between the status of changes in mothers social life and Beck Anxiety Scale (t=4,454; p