Strain, Burden and Depression of Caregivers of Hemiplegic Patients.

, Moon, Joon; , Seo, Kwan Shik; , Yoon, Joon Shik; , Kim, Sei Joo; , Chung, Han Young; , Park, Young Ok

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine 2003;27(4):507-512.

Moon, Joon , Seo, Kwan Shik , Yoon, Joon Shik , Kim, Sei Joo , Chung, Han Young , Park, Young Ok

¹Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea. rehab46@korea.ac.kr
²Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Inha University Hospital, Korea.
³Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Korea Veterens' Hospital, Korea.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Study was designed preliminarily to observe the accordance of caregivers strain and depression with other factors such as sex of the patient, caregiver, lesion side, Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score and Beck's Depression Index (BDI). METHOD: We composed a questionnaire with BDI, and the Sense of Competence Questionnaire (SCQ) in order to evaluate the amount of stress and depression of caregivers. Evaluation of the patient was done by interviewing them along with reviewing their medical records and obtaining scores such as the MMSE, Functional Inependence Index (FIM) and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS).
RESULTS
BDI of the caregivers showed a negative correlation with the patients' age. Lesion side nor age, nor the prevalence of hemiplegia of patients did not show statistical relevance with the strain that the caregiver felt. The first subscale of SCQ showed a positive correlation with the caregiving time that the caregiver gave. In accordance to the sex of the caregiver, females showed to spend more time with the patient, showed to be more unsatisfied with the patient but showed a tendency of lesser SCQ score.
CONCLUSION
Depression, strain and burden that the caregivers went through showed to have slight correlation with the patient and caregiver factors.

Key Words: Caregiver, Strain, Depression, Sense of competence questionnaire