the effect of web-based training on the caregiving burden of family caregivers of patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy: a quasi-experimental study

Background: recognizing the family’s role as a vital source of support and care for cancer patients, along with the psychological burden borne by family caregivers, is crucial. utilizing modern technologies presents a new approach to assisting these families.objectives: this study aimed to evaluate the impact of web-based training on the caregiving burden of family caregivers of patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy. methods: this quasi-experimental study was conducted on family caregivers of patients with breast cancer visiting the hematology department of khatam al anbia hospital in zahedan in 2023. a total of 70 caregivers were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups (35 participants each). caregivers in the intervention group received web-based training via a researcher-developed website for 20 days. the caregiver burden inventory (cbi; novak guest, 1989) was administered to participants in both groups before and one month after the intervention. data were analyzed using independent samples t-test, paired samples t-test, chi-square test, fisher’s exact test, and analysis of covariance (ancova) with spss-27 software. a significance level of p < 0.05 was set for statistical analysis. results: no significant difference was observed in the mean psychological burden scores between the two groups before the intervention (p = 0.68). however, ancova analysis, controlling for the pre-test effect, revealed that the mean psychological burden score in the intervention group (77.42 ± 11.87) was significantly lower than that in the control group (85.82 ± 9.69) after the web-based training intervention (p = 0.001). conclusions: the web-based training intervention significantly reduced the psychological burden of family caregivers of patients with breast cancer. this study demonstrates that a web-based training approach can effectively support family caregivers of cancer patients who are unable to attend in-person training sessions.