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Título: The caregivers of stroke patients : the evolution of health status over the first three months after the patient returns home
Autores: Christopher, Andrew B.
Fecha: 1999
Publicador: McGill University - MCGILL
Fuente:
Tipo: Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
Tema: Health Sciences, Rehabilitation and Therapy.
Health Sciences, Nursing.
Descripción: Informal stroke caregivers are, and will continue to be, an essential resource as the number of persons with stroke rises with the aging trend of the population. With the advent of community based medicine, knowledge of the changes in health status of caregivers of stroke patients during the early period of community re-entry is needed. The overall objective of this study was to determine if there are changes in the physical and mental health status of stroke caregivers during the first three months of the patient's return home. Two successive mini-cohort studies were conducted using measures of physical and mental health and caregiver burden. The first mini-cohort consisted of 28 caregivers and measured changes in the first six weeks of community re-entry. The second mini-cohort consisted of 15 caregivers and measured changes between six weeks and three months after community re-entry. In this study, the vast majority of caregivers come from the context of a long term relationship with the person with stroke and tend to be in good physical health when compared with age-matched norms. As measured by the Mental Components Summary score of the SF-36 Health Survey, the mental health scores of caregivers were low in comparison to age-matched norms and approximately 25% of the caregivers showed scores consistent with clinical depression. No significant changes were found in measures of caregiver health in either mini-cohort over time. However, a lot of individual variation was seen and caregivers used significantly lower levels of coping skills over the first six weeks of community return. Significant correlations were found between caregiver mental health status and the disability of the person with stroke in both mini-cohorts.
Idioma: en