Impacts of Burden on Use of Coping Styles among Stroke Caregivers

Introduction: Stroke is a family disease and prevalent cause of disability cause in developing country including India. After discharge from the hospital, the caregivers will take over the responsibility to look after their patient. Debilitating and chronic nature of stroke often put strain and stress on the caregivers, which threaten the rehabilitation of the stroke patients. The study aimed to find out the impact of burden on coping styles and caregivers’ characteristics on burden in caregivers of stroke survivors. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried out by recruiting 100 caregivers purposively in selected rural-community setting Punjab, India. Coping Checklist (CCL) and Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) schedule was used to determine coping styles and burden in caregivers. Relevant inferential statistics was applied to compute results. Results: Findings show that burden and negative coping strategies are dependent on each others. However, positive coping strategies also show a significant positive relationship with burden in relationship aspects. Family history of stroke, education status of caregiver, availability of support in care and duration of care had direct impact on perceived burden in caregivers of stroke patients. Conclusion: Use of coping strategies depends on severity and nature of burden in caregivers of stroke survivors. In fact, adoption of coping strategies depends on severity of burden.  Study recommend to plan and implement hospital based training program for the caregivers to teach different aspects of home based care in order to decrease caregiving burden and maintain long term quality of life among caregivers.