Burden Among Family Caregivers of the Frail Elderly with Tumors

The present study was conducted to investigate depression in caregivers of the frail elderly with tumors. Approximately 70% of caregivers were depressed. This rate was higher than the rates of caregivers of the frail elderly with home-visiting nurse service in our previous studies (47-56%). Compared with lightly burdened caregivers, heavily burdened caregivers were more likely to attend female elderly and the frail elderly who had a greater number of behavioral disturbances. Heavily burdened caregivers were more likely to consult with physicians within one month, to be in ill health and to be depressed than lightly burdened caregivers. They spent more time with the elderly as well as on physical care than lightly burdened caregivers while they had more family members and tended to use more kinds of social services than lightly burdened caregivers.Caregivers of the frail elderly with tumors seem to need more support. Since the role of home-visiting nurses is not only caring for the frail elderly but also supporting family caregivers, they should help caregivers making an informal caregiving network system to reduce their burden