Background:
Depression is common in stoke survivors and their caregivers. Given the interdependent relationship among the members of dyads in post-stroke management, improving depression in dyads may depend on their partner’s characteristics. Self-esteem, optimism, and perceived control, all known to be associated with depression in an individual, may also contribute to their partner’s depression. The purpose of this study was to examine whether an individual’s self-esteem, optimism and perceived control predict their own, as well as their partner’s depression.
Methods:
A total of 112 ischemic stroke survivor-spouse dyads completed surveys in which depression, self-esteem, optimism, and perceived control were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, the Revised Life Orientation Test, and the Sense of Control Scale. Multilevel modeling, actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) regression with distinguishable dyad was used to determine influences on depression within the dyad. In APIM, actor effect is the impact of a person’s factors on their own depression and partner effect is the impact of a person’s factors on their partner’s depression.
Results:
As shown in Figure1, individuals with lower self-esteem, optimism, and perceived control had higher level of depression. Spouses who had stroke survivors with low self-esteem had higher levels of depression. Stroke survivors who had spouses with lower self-esteem and optimism had higher levels of depression.
Conclusion:
Stroke survivor self-esteem and spouse self-esteem and optimism influenced their partner’s depression. These findings suggest that dyadic intervention is needed to improve depression for the dyads and that depressed stroke survivors may benefit from interventions that improve spousal self-esteem and optimism.