Stress and Psychological and Social Resources for Coping in Informal Family Caregivers of Cancer Patients in Pakistan

This study clarified coping resources that might influence the stress experienced by family members responsible for the care of cancer patients. Informal family caregivers (N = 112) responded to the Kingston Caregiver Stress Scale, the Coping Strategies Inventory-Short Form, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and a new Karachi Family Support Scale that was developed in this project. Coping strategies predicted lower stress with Problem-Focused Engagement being most noteworthy. Patient Directed Family Support was the lone social coping variable to correlate negatively with stress. Perceived Friend Support and Communication Family Support apparently served as social markers of greater stress. Coping strategies combined to define an Internal Psychological Coping factor. All other coping measures loaded on an External Social Coping factor. The new Karachi Family Support Scale displayed incremental validity. These data most importantly suggested that practical efforts to address patient-related problems might be the best way to reduce caregiver stress.