Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Apr 1;9(1):51.
doi: 10.1186/s40359-021-00556-z.

Caregiver burden and coping strategies in caregivers of older patients with stroke

Azar Kazemi  1 , Jalil Azimian  2 , Maryam Mafi  2 , Kelly-Ann Allen  3   4 , Seyedeh Ameneh Motalebi  5
Affiliations

Caregiver burden and coping strategies in caregivers of older patients with stroke

Azar Kazemi et al. BMC Psychol. .

Abstract

Background: Coping strategies play a key role in modulating the physical and psychological burden on caregivers of stroke patients. The present study aimed to determine the relationship between the severity of burden of care and coping strategies amongst a sample of Iranian caregivers of older stroke patients. It also aimed to examine the differences of coping strategies used by male and female caregivers.

Methods: A total of 110 caregivers of older patients who previously had a stroke participated in this descriptive and cross-sectional study. The Zarit Burden Interview and Lazarus coping strategies questionnaires were used for data collection. Questionnaires were completed by the caregivers, who were selected using convenience sampling. The collected data were analyzed using Pearson's correlations and independent t-tests.

Results: The mean age of participants was 32.09 ± 8.70 years. The majority of the caregivers sampled reported mild to moderate (n = 74, 67.3%) burden. The most commonly used coping strategies reported were positive reappraisal and seeking social support. Results of the independent t-test showed that male caregivers used the positive reappraisal strategy (t(110) = 2.76; p = 0.007) and accepting responsibility (t(110) = 2.26; p = 0.026) significantly more than female caregivers. Pearson's correlations showed a significant positive correlation between caregiver burden and emotional-focused strategies, including escaping (r = 0.245, p = 0.010) and distancing (r = 0.204, p = 0.032).

Conclusions: Caregivers with higher burden of care used more negative coping strategies, such as escape-avoidance and distancing. In order to encourage caregivers to utilize effective coping skills, appropriate programs should be designed and implemented to support caregivers. Use of effective coping skills to reduce the level of personal burden can improve caregiver physical health and psychological well-being.

Keywords: Aged; Burden of care; Caregiver; Coping strategies; Stroke.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Weighted average of subscales of coping strategies among caregivers of elderly patients with stroke
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Peiman H, Yaghoubi M, Seyed Mohammadi A, Delpishe A. Prevalence of chronic diseases in the elderly in Ilam. Iran J Ageing. 2012;6(4):7–13.
    1. Habibi A, Nemadi-Vosoughi M, Habibi S, Mohammadi M. Quality of life and prevalence of chronicillnesses among elderly people: a cross-sectional survey. J health. 2012;3(1):58–66.
    1. Fassih-Ramandi Z, Soleimani MA, Allen K-A, Gorgulu O, Motalebi SA. Validity and reliability of the flourishing scale in a sample of older adults in Iran. Clin Interv Aging. 2020;15:673–681. doi: 10.2147/CIA.S251067. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Atella V, Piano Mortari A, Kopinska J, Belotti F, Lapi F, Cricelli C, et al. Trends in age-related disease burden and healthcare utilization. Aging Cell. 2019;18(1):e12861. doi: 10.1111/acel.12861. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nikookar R, Ghaffari S, Akbari Kamrani AA, Sahaf R, Moghadam M, Ghadimi MR. Assessing the duration of unnecessary hospitalization and expenses in older individuals suffering from cerebral vascular accident in the chronic care unit. Iran J Ageing Salmand. 2015;10(2):180–187.