Introduction. The care of children with leukemia requires a high degree of observation and attention to ensure that the recommended treatment by the specialists is well implemented. This could somehow affect the social functionality, increase stress, anxiety and depression among caregivers of children with leukemia. Thus, this cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the prevalence and factors influencing stress, depression and anxiety among caregivers of
children with leukemia.
Methods. Number of sample is 54 respondents. Data were measured using the Bahasa Malaysia version of DASS-21 which was validated in previous study.
Results The results showed that prevalence of low level stress among caregivers to children with leukemia was 88.9% while prevalence of high level stress was 11.1%. The prevalence of low level anxiety was 90.7% and the prevalence of
high level anxiety was 9.3%. The prevalence of low level depression was 96.3% and the prevalence of high level depression was 3.7%. There were several factors that significantly influenced the stress and depression among
the caregivers (p <0.05). Among the factors associated with stress status were the religion of caregivers and gender of the patients (p <0.05). Factors associated with depression status were the sex of caregivers and the relationship between caregivers and family members (p <0.05).
Conclusions. In conclusion, socio demographic factors and the relationship between caregivers and family members affect stress and depression among caregivers while factors of knowledge-level do not affect stress, anxiety and depression among caregivers. Strategies are needed to help reduce stress, anxiety and depression among caregivers of children with leukemia.
Keywords: Stress - Anxiety - Depression - Caregivers - Children with leukemia.