The psychological burden in survivors of stroke and caregivers dyads in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo): a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Stroke exposes the patients and the caregivers to the development of burden in terms of health, economic and social costs. Few studies have focused on the relationship between the psychological burden and the level of disability in stroke survivors and caregiver dyads. Methods: This cross-sectional study aimed at determining the psychological burden of stroke in patients and caregivers in Kinshasa. 85 stroke survivors and caregivers dyads were screened using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Zarit Burden Inventory, and the Rankin’s modified Scale to determine respectively the depression, the anxiety in stroke survivors as well as the caregivers’ psychological burden. Results: Up to fifty percent of survivors of stroke had a severe disability, associated with a high risk of the occurrence of the psychological burden. Nearly eighty-five percent of caregivers showed a moderate psychological burden. The stroke survivors developed more depression than anxiety. Caregivers developed more likely anxiety and depression than stroke survivors. Conclusions: There is a positive relationship between the psychological burden in caregivers and the level of disability in stroke survivors far from the acute phase of the stroke. Healthcare providers working with the survivors of stroke should assess for anxiety and depression in caregivers.

Health and economic impact of caregiving on informal caregivers of people with chronic diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review

“…The articles were from fourteen countries representing all the sub-regions of SSA. The highest number of articles (11/47) were from Nigeria (29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39) and South Africa (11,26,27,(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47), while each of the following countries had one (1/47) article; Togo (48), Zimbabwe (49), Kenya (50), Sudan (51), Democratic Republic of Congo (52) and Cameroon (25). Among the articles from South Africa, two used data from the same study (42,43).…”

“…Impact on the physical health of ICG (21,25,30,35,38,40,43,45,48,50,54,64) 2. Impact on the mental health of ICG (21,25,28,29,32,34,40,(43)(44)(45)(47)(48)(49)51,52,(55)(56)(57)(58)(59)(60)(61)(62)…”

“…It was only the qualitative papers and one quantitative paper (36) where no standardised instrument was used in measuring the impact of caregiving. The tools (in their original or modified form) used include, the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) questionnaire (29,31,32,34,35,37,39,52,55,67), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) (28,52,57,60), Caregiver strain index (CSI) (26,27,35,50), Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) (30,38), General health questionnaire (GHQ) (29,33,34) EUROHIS QoL (67), Modified version of the Frankfurter Befindlichkeit Skala (FBS) (33) and…”

“…The act of caregiving had a profound effect on the mental wellbeing of care providers as stated in more than half (23) of the articles (21,25,28,29,32,34,40,(43)(44)(45)(47)(48)(49)51,52,(55)(56)(57)(58)(59)(60)(61)(62).…”

“…The caregivers experienced mild to severe forms of depression as was assessed using HADS (28,52,57,60), ZBI (32), PHQ-9 (56), BDI (61) and DASS-21 (51) tools. From these eight quantitative studies, the prevalence of depression ranged from 26% to 72.4%.…”