The purpose of this study was to examine the influence on the subjective burden of caregivers of perceived family hardiness and duration of the caregiving, and the physical health and depression of patients with head and neck cancer receiving radiotherapy. A total of 80 patients with head and neck cancer receiving radiotherapy and their caregivers at the Radiology Department, Songklanagarind Hospital, were purposively recruited. Participants completed the Demographic Data Form, the Family Hardiness Index (FHI), the Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) questionnaire, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies- Depression Scale (CES-D), and the Burden Interview (BI). The reliability of the KPS questionnaire was determined using the test-retest method and the Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.90. The reliability of the other 3 questionnaires, the CES-D, the FHI, and the BI, was tested using Cronbach's alpha and the results were 0.89, 0.85, and 0.83 respectively. The data were analyzed using stepwise multiple regression.
The results of the research revealed that: the perceived family hardiness and depression of the patients explained 42.7% of the variance in the subjective burden of the caregivers ( R2  =   0.427,  p   <    .01  )
The results can be used to help caregivers of head and neck cancer patients receiving radiotherapy to enhance their adaptation when they are faced with a burdensome situation.