Caregivers in home palliative care: gender, psychological aspects, and patient’s functional status as main predictors for their quality of life

Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of possible predictors of quality of life (QoL) in a group of Italian caregivers assisting a cancer patient in home palliative care. Methods Data from 570 adult informal caregivers and their cancer-affected relatives were collected. A multivariate regression analysis was conducted to assess the effect of three groups of variables on Caregivers Quality of Life Index-Cancer (CQOLC) scale: (a) socio-demographic characteristics of caregivers; (b) psychological characteristics of caregivers assessed by Profile Mood of States (POMS), Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI), and Preparedness for Caregiving Scale (PCS); (c) Socio-demographic characteristics and functional status of the patients assessed by Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS), Activities of Daily Living (ADL), and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL). Results Regression analysis shows that some variables from each of these clusters are significantly associated with CQOLC, in particular: (a) the gender of the caregiver (st. β = .115, t = 2.765, p = .006) and the time spent for caregiving (st. β = − .165, t = − 3.960, p < .001); (b) the scores obtained by the caregivers in POMS,CBI (st. β = − .523, t = − 16.984, p < .001 and st. β = − .373, t = − 12.950, p < .001, respectively) and PCS (st. β = .092, t = 3.672, p < .001); (c) the gender (st. β = − .081, t = − 1.933, p = .045) and the IADL score (st. β = .195, t = 4.643, p < .001) of the patient. Conclusions A multidimensional evaluation is a key strategy to identify the most vulnerable caregivers. Apart from the condition of the patient, the gender of the caregivers, the time spent for caregiving and, above all, their psychological condition are strong predictors of caregivers’ QoL.