The increasing care burden associated with prolonged illness can lead to significant physical and emotional health problems in caregivers. Therefore, it is important to examine the effects of the caregiving burden experienced by palliative care providers on their physical and psychological well-being. This study was conducted to examine the relationship between the burden of care and musculoskeletal disorders in individuals providing palliative care and their physical activity level, posture, mood levels, and quality of life. The study included 56 caregivers (39 women, 17 men, age: 51.11 ± 12.38 years). Caregiver burden was measured using the Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale, musculoskeletal disorders using the Cornell Musculoskeletal Disorder Questionnaire (CMDQ) and physical activity level using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form. Posture was evaluated using the New York Posture Rating Chart, depression–anxiety–stress levels using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale Turkish Short Form and quality of life using the 12-Item Short Form Questionnaire. In the study, the burden of care was weakly negatively correlated with physical activity level (r=-0.268), posture (r=-0.398) and a moderate negative correlation with the physical component of quality of life (r=-0.421), (p < 0.05). It was also moderately positively correlated with anxiety (r = 0.568), depression (r = 0.609), and stress (r = 0.539), (p < 0.05). Spinal CMDQ scores were negatively correlated with posture (r=-0.339) and showed weak to moderate positive correlations with anxiety (r = 0.377), depression (r = 0.365), and stress (r = 0.410), (p < 0.05). Upper extremity CMDQ scores were weakly positively correlated with anxiety (r = 0.270), while lower extremity scores were negatively correlated with posture (r=-0.384) and the physical component of quality of life (r=-0.338), (p < 0.05). The palliative care process carries significant risk factors at both the physical and psychological levels. Therefore, it has been concluded that caregivers need to be assessed multidimensionally in future studies.
Özkan et al. (Tue,) studied this question.