Burden, Its Predictors and Quality of Life in Caregivers of Stroke Survivors at Rural Community, Punjab, India

Introduction: Stroke is a common neurological disorder characterized by long term dependency of patient on family members and need rehabilitation at home with consequent disturbances in certain areas of life of caregivers. The aim of the study was to examine specific nature of the burden and to estimate the relative influence of caregivers’ characteristics on burden in caregivers. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive survey was carried out by recruiting 100 caregivers purposively in selected rural community setting Punjab, India. WHOQOL-BREF scale and Zarit burden interview (ZBI) schedule was used to measures quality of life and burden in caregivers. Explanatory factors of burden were studied in term of personal and caregiving characteristics of caregivers. Descriptive statistics was applied to compute level of burden and simple and multiple linear regression analysis was applied to identify true predictors of burden in caregivers. Results: Caregivers of stroke survivors perceived varied pattern of burden. The most caregiving burden felt in term of feeling disturbance in relationship, loss of control in life and feeling more personal strain. Multiple regression analysis revealed that a higher level of burden could be partially explained by caregivers characteristics in term of female gender (β=0.275, p<0.042), private employment (β=0.233, p<0.049), and significant history of stroke (β=0.388, p<0.000). Findings reported good quality in social relation domain in caregivers. Conclusions: Caregivers of stroke survivors facing varied level of burden. Sharing responsibility, availability of family support in care and providing financial assistance may be important in the support of caregiving and improvement of quality of life. Study also suggested development of home rehabilitation programme to improve upon quality of life in caregivers of stroke survivors.