Caregiver stress in stroke survivor: data from a tertiary care hospital -a cross sectional survey

Abstract

BackgroundA principal caregiver (CG) is directly affected by patient’s health problems that lead to CG strain. Pakistan has an estimated 4.8% of the population suffering from strokes. The study objective was to evaluate the caregiver level of stress and the factors which make CGs more prone to stress and also to identify the predictive role of factors such as age, sex, educational, marital status on their burden.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional survey. 112 Participants were chosen on the basis of being directly involved in the care of patient and able to give consent for the study. Stroke patients had to have a more than 1 month history of stroke and treated in a tertiary care hospital. The severity of stress was rated using the Modified Caregiver Strain Index (MCSI).ResultsOut of a total of 112 stroke patients and their caregivers, 12 were exempted. Most of the CGs were between the ages 30–39 (48%) and male (70%). Out of the males, most were sons (89%). None of the female CGs was employed. The mean MCSI score was 13.8. Gender, age, marital status, and duration of care all did not have a significant effect on the total (P = 0.640, 0.848, 0.839, 0.110 respectively). Female gender (P = 0.0075) was a factor leading to increased emotional adjustments. Single CGs had increased changes in personal plans (P = 0.014), and married CGs found the behaviour of the patients less upsetting (P = 0.0425). There was no significant difference between the total (P = 0.906) or individual components between daughters and daughter-in-laws. Increased duration of care was significantly associated with decrease level of sleep disturbance (P = 0.026), physical strain (P = 0.050) and other demands on time (P = 0.044). Increase age of CG was associated with an increase feeling of being overwhelmed (P = 0.027).ConclusionThere is a need to identify the factors responsible for major CG stress by conducting similar studies and to define structured intervention for evaluating and preventing problems of caregivers.

Assessment of stress among caregivers of the stroke survivors: community based study

“…This may lead to the neglect of the needs of the other family members. 11 In the current study, the mean CSI score among the nuclear family was 11.38±1.48 when compared to 11.24±0.93 among the non nuclear family. However, this difference was not found to be statistically significant (P=0.407).…”

Chinese family caregivers of stroke survivors: Determinants of caregiving burden within the first six months

“…Each caregiver's burden was mostly related to their age (mean age = 55.97), depressed affect, somatic complaints, number of caregiving hours (>8 hr per day) and stroke survivors’ functional capacity. Caregivers’ age and hours of caregiving between 6–12 hr were also found to contribute to caregivers’ burden in a study of stroke caregivers conducted in South Africa (Gbiri, Olawale, & Isaac, ) and Pakistan (Ain, Dar, Ahmad, Munzar, & Yousafzai, ). This result concurred with the study in Hong Kong which showed that Chinese caregivers’ physical conditions directly affected caregivers’ burden (Lau et al., ).…”

The psychosocial status of the family members of rheumatoid arthritis patients in Korea

“…Previous studies have reported on the burden of family caregivers and chronic diseases such as stroke, dementia, and cancer [7][8][9][10]. Family caregivers of patients with cancer report high levels of depression, often higher than their care recipients [7,8].…”

“…Recently, several studies have been conducted to evaluate the burden of caregivers in severe conditions, such as cancer, dementia, or stroke, demonstrating high levels of burden and psychosocial distress in these populations [7][8][9][10]. However, the burden of family members of RA patients has not been previously evaluated.…”