Stress and Hopelessness among Caregivers of Life Threatening Illnesses

Abstract

The current study aimed to measure and stress and hopelessness among caregivers of life threatening illnesses. Purposive sampling technique was used and a sample consisted of 180(90 male & 90 female) caregivers of cancer and liver cirrhosis patients aged 17 to 60 years was taken from Liver Center DHQ and Cancer Center Allied Hospital. DASS Stress scale by Lovibond & Lovibond (1995) and Beck Hopelessness Scale by Beck (1993) was used. Pearson’s product Moment Correlation and independent T. test were computed for the statistical analysis of the data. Findings indicate high level of stress and hopelessness among caregivers of low socio economic status as compare to high socio economic status caregivers of life threatening illnesses. Further this study find out that female caregivers experience high level of stress and hopelessness as compare to male caregivers of life threatening illnesses.

Keywords: Stress, Hopelessness, Caregivers, Life Threatening Illnesses, Pearson Product Moment Coefficient Correlation, Independent sample t-test.