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

Abstract

Background: Stroke is the third most common cause of death. It disables individuals and places considerable burden not only on the individual and his family but also on the community as a whole. Caring for stroke patients often places considerable strain on caregivers, given that they have to take up multiple responsibilities. The study objective was to assess caregiver stress and to identify the factors such as emotional, financial and socio demographic factors.Methods: The study adopted a cross sectional design. A total of 150 participants were chosen on the basis of being directly involved in patient care and consenting to participate in the study 1. Caregivers of all incident cases of stroke who survived beyond 28 days were included. The severity of strain was rated using the Caregiver Strain Index (CSI).Results: The mean (SD) age of caregivers was 45.19 (4) years. Among the caregivers 130 (87%) of them were females and 20(13%) were males. The analysis of CSI showed that the mean (SD) score was 11.3 (0.93).All the CGs responded that financial difficulties, physical strain, family and emotional adjustments and sleep disturbance were found to have contributed to their stress.Conclusions: In this study, it is found that there is an increase in strain on the caregivers of stroke survivors which impacted the personal life as well as the quality of care offered by them.