Correlates of Caregiver Burden Among Informal Caregivers of Patients With Hematological Malignancies: The Roles of Coping, Resilience, and Perceived Social Support.

Background Informal caregivers of patients with hematological malignancies often face prolonged physical, psychological, and practical demands; however, evidence regarding modifiable correlates of caregiver burden remains limited in Bangladesh. This study aimed to determine the level of caregiver burden and examine the relationships of coping strategies, resilience, perceived social support, and caregiving-related factors with burden among informal caregivers. Methods This single-center, hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Hematology, Bangladesh Medical University, Dhaka, from February to May 2026. Sixty-five adult primary informal caregivers who had provided care for at least three months were recruited consecutively. Caregiver burden, coping ability, resilience, and perceived social support were assessed via the Bangla Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), Brief COPE, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-25), and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), respectively. The data were analyzed via one-way analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation, and multiple linear regression in IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 22 (Released 2013; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States). Regression assumptions, including linearity, normality and homoscedasticity of residuals, multicollinearity and influential observations, were examined before the adjusted estimates were interpreted. Results Of the 65 caregivers, 28 (43.1%) had moderate-to-severe burdens, and 10 (15.4%) had severe burdens; overall, 38 (58.5%) experienced moderate-to-severe or severe burdens. Problem-focused coping decreased significantly across increasing burden categories (p = 0.020). Caregiver burden was inversely correlated with problem-focused coping (r = -0.430, p<0.001) and resilience (r = -0.412, p<0.001). In this model, longer total caregiving duration was independently associated with greater burden (B = 1.367, 95% CI 0.101 to 2.633, β = 0.217, p = 0.035), whereas problem-focused coping was independently associated with lower burden (B = -2.330, 95% CI -3.343 to -1.317, β = -0.789, p<0.001). Emotion-focused coping (B = 1.121, 95% CI 0.290 to 1.952, β = 0.446, p = 0.009) and perceived social support (B = 0.251, 95% CI 0.067 to 0.435, β = 0.328, p = 0.008) showed positive adjusted associations with burden. Daily caregiving hours, dysfunctional coping, and resilience were not independently associated with burden. Conclusion Caregiver burden was substantial in this population. A longer duration of caregiving and coping patterns were important correlates, whereas the unexpected positive adjusted association with perceived social support requires cautious interpretation and should not be read as evidence that social support increases burden. Because the design was cross-sectional, all findings describe associations rather than causal determinants. Routine caregiver screening and culturally appropriate support focused on practical coping and prolonged caregiving demands may be beneficial.