Psychological factors affecting caregivers of patients with stroke
Journal Title: Αρχεία Ελληνικής Ιατρικής - Year 2013, Vol 30, Issue 5
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To investigate the psychological burden of caregivers of patients with stroke. METHOD Cross-sectional study of 106 caregivers of patients who had suffered a stroke at least one month before the survey. The data were collected from the caregivers of patients hospitalized in 3 public hospitals in Attica, using a questionnaire that included questions about the clinical characteristics of the patients and the demographic characteristics of the caregivers, who also completed scales measuring psychological burden, sense of coherence-cohesion, positive meaning (benefit finding) and anxiety and depression. RESULTS Twenty of the caregivers were males (18.9%) and 86 females (81.1%). Caregiver anxiety and depression were found to be positively related to all dimensions of caregiver burden (disappointment, general strain, isolation, environment, emotional involvement). A high sense of coherence (meaningfulness, manageability, comprehensibility) was significantly negatively correlated with depressive symptoms in the caregivers. The age of the caregiver was positively associated with benefit finding (acceptance). Higher levels of overall caregiver burden, older age of the caregiver, greater emotional attachment to the patient, and lower levels of comprehensibility were related to a higher degree of depressive symptomatology. CONCLUSIONS Taking care of patients with stroke is associated with a heavy psychological burden and psychological morbidity in the caregivers, in the form of depressive symptoms. Issues of family members taking care of a close relative suffering from stroke are raised by these findings.
Authors and Affiliations
A. MICHAILIDOU, F. ANAGNOSTOPOULOS, K. VEMMOS
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP157060
- DOI -
- Views 84
- Downloads 0
Buccal metastases and lung cancer - a case report
The case is presented of a 68-year-old man with a lung adenocarcinoma, with buccal and cutaneous metastases, which subsided after a chemotherapy regime combining a platinum derivative and paclitaxel. Follow-up of 12 mont...
Non operative management of blunt injuries<br /> of solid intraperitoneal organs (liver spleen)
Non operative management (NOM) of blunt hepatic and splenic injuries is the treatment modality of choice in hemodynamically stable trauma patients with no clinical or radiological (CT scan) evidence of other intra abdomi...
Religiosity, spirituality and depression
The quest for existential meaning is a universal phenomenon, which is traditionally expressed in official religions (religiosity) or personal transcendence (spirituality). Throughout the greatest part of the twentieth ce...
Πρακτικές κατευθυντήριες οδηγίες για την υπέρταση 200
Favism A brief history from the "abstain from beans" of Pythagoras to the present
Favism is a form of hemolytic anemia and jaundice following the intake of fava beans and other legumes and various drugs. It is caused by a hereditary abnormality of the red cell enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase...