Emotional concerns and coping strategies in Low Grade Glioma patients and reliability of their caregivers in reporting these concerns: Findings from a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Purpose: To explore the emotional concerns and coping strategies of patients with Low Grade Glioma (LGG) and whether or not their caregivers are reliable in reporting these concerns as surrogate informants.

Methods: An explorative cross-sectional study. Patients who had undergone a neurosurgical procedure at least one year before this study for LGG and who were capable of participating in a face-to-face interview were included. Each patient nominated a reference caregiver. Both the patient and the caregiver were interviewed independently, using the Beck Depression Inventory Scale, the State - Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Jalowiec Coping Scale.

Main results: Forty-six patients and 46 caregivers were included. The average scores of the Beck scale were homogeneous between patients and caregivers (7.76 [CI 95% 5.76-9.75] vs. 6.23 [CI 95% 4.57-7.90]; p = 0.102). Patients reported significantly greater state and trait anxiety (44.26 [CI 95% 40.21-48.31] and 37.95 [CI 95% 34.97-40.94]), respectively compared to their caregivers (40.28 [CI 95% 36.64-43.91] and 35.17 [CI 95% 32.16-38.18]). The coping strategies enacted were homogeneous between patients and caregivers (82.78 [CI 95% 77.21-88.35] vs (80.93 [CI 95% 76.32-85.55]; p = 0.102) while the kind of strategies adopted were significantly diverse.

Conclusions: Patients suffer from depression and greater state anxiety as compared to trait anxiety; moreover, they enact less than half of the available coping strategies. Caregivers may be involved as surrogate informants when necessary for health-care professionals to detect depression while more caution is advised for what concerns anxiety and the coping strategies enacted by patients.

Keywords: Anxiety; Caregivers; Coping; Depression; Low Grade Glioma; Post-operative; Surrogate informants.