Cancer Caregivers on the Hopi Reservation

Authors: Felina M. Cordova-Marks, DrPH, MPH

Category: Cancer Health Disparities
Conference Year: 2020

Abstract Body:
Purpose: There are few studies that have been published on American Indian caregiving, specifically on American Indian cancer caregiving that is occurring in a reservation setting. Findings from the 2017 Hopi Adult Caregiver Survey (HACS) will add to the literature and describe differences and similarities between cancer and non-cancer caregivers on the Hopi reservation. Methods: HACS was a 58-item survey administered to adult Hopi female caregivers living on the Hopi reservation providing care to a family member with cancer, chronic disease, elderly or disability. HACS looked at caregiving experience, health, responsibilities, difficulties, desired services, as well as stress (Perceived Stress Scale: PSS-10) and resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale: CD-RISC-10). Calculated means of survey variables, and logistic regression were performed in Stata. Results: All caregivers were female (N=44), eight were providing care to a family member with cancer. Comparing means of cancer and non-cancer caregivers, cancer caregivers were found to be older (61.3 ± 1.8 vs. 56.1 ± 2.3), providing care for more years (6.4 ± 1.8 vs. 5.5 ± 0.67), and providing care to someone that was older (88.6 ± 2.1 vs. 83.6 ± 1.8). There were comparable reported mean number of caregiving difficulties and mean number of caregiving responsibilities between cancer and non-cancer caregivers. Cancer caregivers reported additional caregiving services desired such as caregiver training. They had comparable mean stress (20.0 ± 1.8 vs. 17.9 ± 6.2) and mean resilience scores (29.0 ± 3.2 vs. 28.7 ± 6.2) to the total Hopi female caregiver sample. As a part of the total sample, increased resilience score was found to be associated with a decrease in stress score in logistic regression (p<0.01). Conclusion: American Indians are largely left out of the conversation in published caregiving literature. Our findings show the experience of American Indian cancer caregivers providing care on a reservation. These findings may be of interest to health care providers and agencies that provide services to American Indian caregivers so that services may be increased. This work also shows the need for research interventions to increase resilience and thereby decrease stress among American Indian caregivers.

Keywords: American Indians, Caregiving, Cancer