Developing a Hardiness assessment scale for Informal caregivers of patients with cancer in Uganda

Rachel Kansiime¹ , Simon Kizito² , Paul Bartone³

1. Uganda Cancer Institute, Paediatric Haematology-Oncology service Mulago specialised Hospital.
2. Pincer Training and Research Institute, Makerere University, school of psychology; College of Humanities.
3. Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Department. of Psychiatry.

Section:Research Paper, Product Type: Journal-Paper
Vol.10 , Issue.11 , pp.149-155, Nov-2024

Online published on Nov 30, 2024

Copyright © Rachel Kansiime, Simon Kizito, Paul Bartone . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 

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Abstract :
Cancer is becoming an increasingly prevalent illness in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) with Uganda not being exceptional. The study aimed to validate an adapted version of the Dispositional Resilience Scale in a sample of 426 Ugandan cancer caregivers. The study was conducted at the Uganda Cancer Institute in Kampala and the Mbarara Regional Cancer Centre in Uganda. The study used a cross-sectional design. Study participants were consenting adult caregivers (aged 18 years and older) of cancer patients. The study included caregivers of patients diagnosed with cancer at any stage, regardless of cancer type, and treated at the Uganda Cancer Institute and Mbarara District Hospital. Convenience sampling was used in this study. A composite index developed through structural and internal consistency reliability tests was used to generate scores for each respondent. A total of 436 caregivers participated in the study. The male to female ratio was 32%:68%. The mean age of males was 37.3 SD = 12.2 years and the mean age of females was 33.5 Sd = 34.7 years. The age difference was significant (t = 3.181 & P-value = 0.002). There was a significant difference in the occupation of the caregivers (test statistic 19.1, P = 0.014). There was no difference in income level by gender. There was a gender difference in the religious affiliation of the caregivers, which was significant between male and female caregivers, and there was also a significant difference between the means and standard deviations of male and female caregivers of the Anglican faith62(44.30 and 87(29,9). In conclusion, the adjusted Dispositional Resilience Scale (DRS) was shown to be a reliable and valid tool for assessing resilience in the cancer caregiver population. Through rigorous testing and validation procedures, this scale has demonstrated strong psychometric properties, making it suitable for use in research and clinical settings.

Key-Words / Index Term :
Cancer, Coping, Hardiness, Caregiver, Composite, Indices

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