A study of the relationship of prayer between family caregiver and cancer patient in easing caregiver burden

This research project examines the relationship of prayer to the experience of burden and helplessness as reported by the primary family caregivers of cancer patients. The research project included 20 dyads of cancer patient and primary family caregiver. The dyads were divided into experimental and control groups with caregivers approximately matched by age, gender, kinship and geography. Pre and post-tests were done using The Burden Scale; the Mastery Scale and a Personal Information Sheet.;The purpose of the study was to examine an intervention to ease the caregiver burden and stress in a time when more and more cancer treatment happens in outpatient or home setting. The intervention was a shared prayer experience used over a month's time around four themes: joy in remembering, hope in desiring, mercy in dealing with limits and forgiveness in regrets. The ritual included symbols, centering, touch, sacred reading, prayer responses, and dialogue between the cancer patient and primary family caregiver.;The findings identified no significant difference in the sense of mastery from using the prayer book. In contrast the sense of burden decreased for the experimental from pre-test to post-test. For the control group, the sense of burden increased.;Though not a statistically significant level, this conclusion might suggest that an increase in stressors while caring for a patient might be offset by prayer and thus perceived burden does not go up. Qualitative analysis revealed that the prayer experience was generally reported as positive.