Factors Influencing Caregiver Burden among Family Caregivers of Post-Stroke Persons in Wenzhou, China

Providing care to post-stroke persons who are dependent at home may lead to a burden for the family caregivers and there are various factors influencing the burden. This predictive correlational study aimed to examine the caregiver burden at three months after providing care for post-stroke persons and examine whether caregiver health status, caregiver amount of caregiving activities, and caregiver mutuality can predict caregiver burden at three months after providing care for the post-stroke persons in Wenzhou, China. A simple random sampling was used to recruit 101 family caregivers who took the patients to follow-up at the outpatient department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University in China. Data were collected using questionnaires including the demographic questionnaire, The SF-12 Health Survey Version 2, The Caregiving Activities Scale, The Mutuality Scale, and The 12-item Zarit Burden Interview. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and standard multiple regression. The results showed that the family caregiver burden was at a mild to moderate level with a mean score of 18.29 (SD = 4.9). Standard multiple regression revealed health status (β = -.30, p < .001), caregiver amount of caregiving activities (β = .24, p < .001), caregiver mutuality (β = -.38, p < .001) as the predictor of caregiver burden. The findings provided information for developing an appropriate nursing intervention to prevent progressive caregiver burden, and, in turn, will enable post-stroke persons to receive effective care by targeting caregiver health status, caregiver amount of caregiving activities, and caregiver mutuality.