Anxiety and low life satisfaction associate with high caregiver strain early after stroke

Abstract

High strain is experienced by 12.8% of caregivers shortly after discharge of a stroke-surviving patient. More anxiety symptoms and lower life satisfaction in patients are independently associated with a higher level of strain in caregivers. Treating patient anxiety at an early stage might therefore lead to a decrease in long-term caregiver strain.

Inpatient dependency in activities of daily living predicts informal caregiver strain: A cross‐sectional study

“…In contrast, the study by Oosterveer et al. () failed to obtain this association because of “an insufficient number of patients with complete data for the BI”; however, they reported a tendency towards such an association. Several studies have explored the association between strain in informal caregivers and patient–caregiver characteristics.…”

“…Specifically, low Barthel Index scores (suggesting greater disability) were related to caregiver overload in connection with poststroke patients (Blake & Lincoln, 2000;Blake et al, 2003;Bugge et al, 1999;Hung et al, 2012). In contrast, the study by Oosterveer et al (2014) failed to obtain this association because of "an insufficient number of patients with complete data for the BI"; however, they reported a tendency towards such an association. Several studies have explored the association between strain in informal caregivers and patient-caregiver characteristics.…”

“…Several studies have explored the association between strain in informal caregivers and patient-caregiver characteristics. However, they used samples of patients from the community context (residences, home or long-term centres) or with specific pathologies (Bradshaw et al, 2013;Bugge et al, 1999;Jagannathan et al, 2014;Kim, Chang, Rose, & Kim, 2012;Oosterveer et al, 2014; Santos-Garc ıa & De la Fuente-Fern andez, 2015).…”

“…Scores of 7 or more points mean a high level of strain (Robinson, ). CSI has been determined as the most valid tool for assessing the burden of informal caregivers as compared to other similar questionnaires (Oosterveer et al., ; Santos‐García & De la Fuente‐Fernández, ). This index has been validated for the Spanish population and has demonstrated high reliability (López‐Alonso & Moral‐Serrano, ).…”

“…Although the estimated prevalence of caregiver strain varies in the literature, most studies have reported high levels of strain (Bradshaw et al., ; Oosterveer, Mishre, Van Oort, Bodde, & Aerden, ). Caregiver strain and the negative impact of high caregiver strain have been reported in several patient groups such as those suffering from chronic disease, cardiovascular disease (Oosterveer et al., ), general medical conditions and trauma, orthopaedic conditions, patients with cognitive impairment (Bradshaw et al., ), children with cancer (Panganiban‐Corales & Medina, ) and stroke patients (Blake, Lincoln, & Clarke, ; Oosterveer et al., ; Visser‐Meily et al., ). Consequently, family caregivers can be considered the second victims, as they usually assume this role with minimal preparation and little guidance from healthcare and social systems.…”