9580 Background: This study was aimed to investigate the employment status and work-related difficulties among family caregiver of terminal cancer patients compared with the general population. Methods: A survey was administered to 381 family caregivers of terminal cancer patients at 11hospitals and 994 general populations aged more than 18 years. Results: Family caregivers of terminal cancer patients were female (66.7%) and the patient's spouse (50.9%), with mean age of 46.8years (SD, 13.5). 212(56.1%) were working before cancer diagnosis, however, only 133(36.3%) continued working currently. Compared with the general population, 233(63.7%)family caregivers of terminal cancer patients were more likely to be not working (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] =2.39; 95% confidence interval [95%CI] = 1.73 to 3.29).Those who continued working reported more easy fatigability (40.6% vs 22.4%) and reduced working hours (20.3% vs 2.1%) than general population. For those doing housework, caregiving itself (56.4%) were identified to be the most common difficulties, followed by easy fatigability (32.3%). Major reasons for not working were providing care to the terminal cancer patients (24.0%). Older age (aOR=10.37; 95%CI=2.80 to 38.41), female sex (aOR=4.28; 95%CI=2.25 to 8.13), lower household income (aOR=2.19; 95%CI=1.19 to 4.06), bearing medical cost by other than spouse (aOR=2.10; 95%CI=1.05 to 4.19), and low performance status of the patients (aOR=2.00; 95%CI=1.01 to 3.95) were significantly associated with not working. Conclusions: When compared to the general population, family caregivers of terminal cancer patients were at risk job loss from their caregiving burden, and caregiving and easy fatigability were the major work-related difficulties. Our study might help make a strategy to reduce job loss for family caregivers' caregiving burden. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
The Effects of Care Burden of Family Caregivers of Terminal Cancer Patients on Their Anxiety and Depression: Focusing on the Mediating Effects of Bonding Social Capital and Bridging Social Capital
