‘Daily Diary’ Study Monitors Caregiver Stress and Mood
Monitoring the mental health and stress levels of the caregivers of cancer patients could be a key to that patient’s recovery, but is it feasible?
That’s the impetus behind a study by principal investigator Christine Vinci, PhD, and Ranjita Poudel, PhD, in Moffitt Cancer Center’s Health Outcomes and Behavior Program. The study asks caregivers to provide daily assessments on their mental health. The information will be published at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting held in Chicago this June.
“This is part of a larger study,” Vinci said. “This study is focused on mindfulness as a way to approach managing stress.”
According to Poudel, participants in the study are all caregivers of patients who have undergone allogeneic transplants in Moffitt’s Blood and Bone Marrow Department. It’s a chance to look at an important factor in a patient’s overall health: the mental health of their caregiver.
“Caregivers need care,” Poudel said. “They have to go through the time – months or years – in their role as caregiver which can take a toll on their mental health. The daily assessment allows us to collect information on a day-to-day experience to see how they feel during the time of their loved one’s treatment. This information will tell us whether we should improve the existing intervention or to develop new ones to manage the stress related to caregiving.”
The study utilizes an app that checks in on caregivers through their smart phone. Brief survey questions ask about their stress level and mental state daily over a six-week period that coincides with their patient’s treatment course, covering the time their patient is first admitted to after they are discharged from the hospital.
“Daily diary or assessment means we are sampling mood and the experience of caregivers in real-time,” Poudel said. “We ask questions about their mood, how they feel in the moment and how self-efficient they feel in terms of taking care of their patient every day in real time.”
According to Vinci, it’s a system that collects data through use of mobile app technology. The study aims to encompass 270 caregivers and their patients, so 540 individuals in all.
“So, as an example, we may learn that a caregiver sees a spike in stress when their loved one is discharged, which means we should consider offering support to help them manage that stress at that time,” Vinci said. “It’s important to remember that this is part of a larger study, and these caregivers are followed beyond the six weeks of daily monitoring.”
Caregivers participating in the study will hear from researchers for months after the initial “daily diary” assessment, which will give them a chance to provide updates on their own mental health long after their patient undergoes transplant.
“So, this daily look into their lives is a focused period within a larger span studying their stress and mood,” Vinci said. “We collect patient data as well, which will help us translate it all into assessing better patient outcomes.”
