Stroke patients' informal caregivers - Patient, caregiver, and service factors that affect caregiver strain

Background and Purpose-Research has revealed that caring for a stroke patie nt can result in caregiver strain and a myriad of other difficulties for ca regivers. This study aims to identify the level of strain experienced by ca regivers in the early months after stroke and to assess the relationship be tween caregiver strain and caregiver characteristics, patient characteristi cs, and service inputs. Methods-Stroke patients were identified through a random stratified sample of general practices. Patients were asked to identify their principal infor mal caregiver. Strain was measured with the Caregiver Strain Index, and all data were collected from caregivers at 1, 3, and 6 months after the patien t's stroke. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the factors as sociated with caregiver strain. Results-Six months after stroke, 37% of caregivers were experiencing consid erable strain. The amount of time a caregiver spent helping a stroke patien t, the amount of time the caregiver spent with the patient, and the caregiv er's health were all significantly associated with the level of strain expe rienced. Although none of the services or patient factors tested in this st udy were consistently associated with strain, an indicator of stroke severi ty was significant at each time point. Conclusions-Caregivers are experiencing strain, which has implications for research and service provision; Service providers need to identify caregive rs at risk of greater strain and to help caregivers work through situations that services cannot alter. Research is needed to identify services that a re effective in strain alleviation. Future research should also aim to iden tify the interface between patient characteristics and strain, burden, and depression and particularly to assess the caregiver's perception of these r elationships.