Clinical depression while caring for loved ones with breast cancer

IntroductionThe period of the cancer patients undergoing treatment is also the most stressful time for their family caregivers. This study aimed to determine the rates of major depressive disorder and dysthymia; and their associated factors in the caregivers during this time.MethodsOne hundred and thirty caregiver–patient dyads attending the oncology centre for breast cancer treatment participated in this cross-sectional study. While the data on the patients’ socio-demographic and illness characteristics were obtained from their medical record, the caregivers completed three self-report measures: 1) socio-demography and the caregiving factor questionnaire, 2) Multi-dimensional Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and 3) Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Subsequently, those with “probable depression” identified from the DASS-21 score were interviewed using The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) to obtain the diagnoses of depressive disorders.ResultsTwenty-three of the 130 caregivers (17.69%) were diagnosed to have depressive disorders, where 12.31% (n = 16) had major depressive disorder and 5.38% (n = 7) had dysthymic disorder. Factors associated with depression include ethnicity, duration of caregiving, the patients' functional status and the caregivers' education level. Logistic regression analysis showed that the patients' functional status (p < 0.05, OR = 0.23, CI = 0.06–0.86) and the caregivers' education level (p < 0.05, CI = 9.30, CI = 1.82–47.57) were significantly associated with depression in the caregivers attending to breast cancer patients on oncology treatment.ConclusionsA significant proportion of family caregivers were clinically depressed while caring for their loved ones. Depression in this population is a complex interplay between the patients' factors and the caregivers' factors.