Caregiver's Burden in Rehabilitation of Patients with Neurological Deficits following Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

Introduction: Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is an emerging public health problem reaching epidemic proportions. Reduced functional capacity after SCI not only affects the quality of life (QOL) of the patient, but also creates an added social, financial, and psychological burden on the family. Caregiver is responsible for providing the patient with physical, emotional, and functional support. Therefore, the increasing burden on the caregiver worsens all the domains constituting the QOL of the patient. Thus, the understanding of caregiver burden in terms of demographic profile of caregivers, severity of SCI, cost of care, mode of treatment adopted, and employment and education of the caregiver is important in the rehabilitation of patients with SCI.

Explaining the challenges of Iranian caregivers in provision of home health care to spinal cord injury patients: a qualitative study

“…In line with our findings, the results of another study demonstrated caregivers endured enormous physical pressure when they had to move patients for taking a shower or using the bathroom [ 27 ]. Factors such as age [ 32 – 34 ], gender [ 29 , 30 , 35 ] literacy level, occupation [ 36 , 37 ], patients’ physical activity [ 38 ], economic status, and social support [ 39 ] can influence the care burden imposed on caregivers. Also, variabilities in people’s personality in terms of resilience and behavioral attitudes, as well as demographic, economic, and geographical parameters can significantly affect the level of care burden experienced by caregivers [ 29 , 32 , 39 ].…”