Informal caregivers' well-being and care recipients' quality of life and community reintegration - findings from a stroke survivor sample.

BACKGROUND

Stroke is highly debilitating and requires long-term care. Informal caregivers of stroke survivors play important roles in stroke rehabilitation. Caring for stroke survivors can negatively affect the caregivers' well-being and may adversely impact on their caregiving quality and subsequently on stroke survivors' well-being. There seems to be a dearth of research on the relationships between caregivers' and stroke survivors' well-being.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

This study was designed to determine the relationships among informal caregivers' burden and quality of life (QOL) and stroke survivors' QOL and community reintegration.

METHODS

This ethically certified cross-sectional survey involved 82 stroke survivors (mean age = 60.48 ± 11.13 years) and their 82 primary caregivers (mean age = 36.13 ± 13.69 years) consecutively recruited from seven conveniently sampled tertiary hospitals in Nigeria. Caregivers Strain Index, Igbo-culture adapted Maleka Stroke Community Reintegration Measure and Short-Form 36-item Health Survey questionnaires were used to assess the caregivers' burden, survivors' community reintegration and QOL (of survivors and caregivers), respectively. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Spearman rank, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests at alpha level of 0.05.

RESULTS

The mean stroke survivors' community reintegration and QOL were 34.05 ± 21.54% and 34.93 ± 16 ± 49%, respectively. The mean caregivers' QOL and burden scores were 74.49 ± 12.61% and 9.13 ± 3.18, respectively. About 80.5% of the caregivers experienced significant burden. Stroke survivors' QOL and community reintegration, and caregivers' QOL and burden significantly correlated with one another (p < 0.05). Poststroke duration, survivor-caregiver cohabitation duration, survivors' community-dwelling duration and daily care-giving hours significantly correlated with each of stroke survivors' community reintegration and QOL, and caregivers' burden and QOL (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Stroke survivors' community reintegration and QOL were poor while caregivers' had moderate QOL and high prevalence of significant burden. Significant correlations exist between caregivers' well-being and stroke survivors' QOL and community reintegration. Interventions targeted at reducing caregivers' burden may help improve both caregivers and survivors' well-being.