Cancer Caregiver Burden: Targeting Emotion Regulation in a Trial

Informal caregivers of cancer patients report high levels of psychological distress as evidenced in markedly increased levels of anxiety and depression. High levels of psychological distress in caregivers have also been found to be associated with poorer health and increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines that are well-established risk factors for physical illness and stress-related mortality. Previous psychological interventions using cognitive methods have only produced small effect sizes and more research on how to effectively alleviate caregiver burden is needed. The proposed project will investigate the effect of Emotion Regulation Therapy (ERT) for caregivers of cancer patients. ERT is a novel approach specifically targeting emotion regulation with the aim of improving mental and physical health. The effect of ERT will be examined in a randomized controlled trial comparing ERT to usual medical care (UMC).