The present study aimed to explore the rumination patterns and outlook changes among primary caregivers of cancer patients, with particular focus on gender, social support, employment status, months of providing care, cancer stage and education level. The Event Related Rumination Inventory (Cann et al., 2011) and Changes in Outlook Questionnaire (Joseph et al., 2005) were used to measure study variables: intrusive and deliberate rumination and positive and negative changes respectively. Sample consisted of 131 participants with 63% males and 37% females. Age ranged from 18 to 57 years (M=33.40, SD=10.76). Data collected from hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Non-probability purposive sampling was employed. Findings indicated various trends between demographic determinants and study variables. Those caregivers who were male, having social support, employed, and provided care more than an year reported an overall more deliberate rumination and exhibited positive changes. While those who were female, having no social support, unemployed, and provided care less than an year reported an overall more intrusive rumination and exhibited negative changes. There were variations of scores among cancer stages of patients and education level of caregivers. The differences indicated a need for further research on demographic variables related to primary caregivers to highlight their conditions in providing care to various chronic illnesses patients in Pakistan. Assessing positive aspects of rumination and outlook changes would help the health care professionals, health authorities and health policy makers to make interventions to focus on the factors that help to make these primary care providers more productive.

Eiman Nizam is currently pursuing her MS in Clinical Psychology at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan. She is serving as a Trainee Psychologist at Taskeen Health Initiative, where she is involved in providing psychological support and delivering one-one Tele-sessions. She is also working as a Community Research Assistant at the Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning (PILL), contributing to research projects focused on mental health and psychosocial well-being of Breast Cancer survivors. Her research interests include clinical psychology, community mental health, and evidence-based interventions. She aims to integrate research and clinical practice to enhance access to quality mental health services in Pakistan.