scholarly journals COPING STRATEGIES BY STROKE CAREGIVERS: EVIDENCE FROM A QUALITATIVE STUDY IN SARAWAK, MALAYSIA

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-54
Author(s):  
Md Mizanur Rahman ◽  
Zabidah binti Putit ◽  
Norliza binti Suut ◽  
Mohamad Taha Arif ◽  
Asri bin Said ◽  
...  

Caring for stroke survivors is inevitably a burden to caregivers. It is not uncommon for stroke survivors who are discharged from the hospital and found themselves at home without any help and care from the supposed caregivers. However, in instances where there are available and willing caregivers, a sudden and unpredictable task of caring for stroke survivors require the stroke caregivers to apply their coping strategies due to the demanding nature of looking after a survivor. This study aimed to determine coping strategies undertaken by stroke caregivers in caring for stroke survivors. This was an exploratory qualitative study and data was collected from the caregivers of stroke survivor using a semi-structured guided questionnaire. A total of 18 caregivers were included in the study. The data were collected from November 2015 until June 2016 at a selected community rehabilitation centre in Kuching, Sarawak. The qualitative data analysis revealed that the coping strategies undertaken by stroke caregivers include change of role in life, self-motivation, sharing with other people, crying, trying to forget things that happen, hoping survivors will get better, emotion suppression and self-blame. The study highlighted the experiences by the caregivers for caring for stroke patients and focused on the coping strategies undertaken by the caregivers. Better ununderstanding of these experiences does help the service providers to provide better support and resources for caregivers in caring for stroke survivors.

Author(s):  
Talent Mhangwa ◽  
Madhu Kasiram ◽  
Sibonsile Zibane

The number of female drug users has been on the rise in South Africa, with statistics reflecting a rise in the number of women who attend treatment centres annually. This article presents empirical data from a broader qualitative study which aimed to explore perceptions concerning the effectiveness of aftercare programmes for female recovering drug users. The main data source was transcripts of in-depth interviews and focus groups with both service users and service providers from a designated rehabilitation centre in Gauteng, South Africa. Framed within a biopsychosocial-spiritual model, this article explores the perceptions and meanings which the female recovering drug users and the service providers attach to aftercare programmes. The findings of the research outlined the range of factors promoting recovery, alongside noteworthy suggestions for improvement in aftercare services. While acknowledging multiple influences on behaviour, this article highlights the significance of these findings in planning and implementing holistic aftercare programmes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 276-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celia Chow ◽  
Agnes Tiwari

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the following questions. First, what are the experiences of family caregivers in caring for community-dwelling stroke survivors? Second, what services help or do not help the caregivers in managing their caregiving role? Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative study was conducted with a total of six focus group interviews with 29 stroke caregivers selected using convenience sampling in a local community centre. All interviews were recorded and transcribed for content analysis. Findings – The results pointed to three main themes working together to facilitate desirable outcomes in caregiving and prevent elder abuse: factors contributing to caregiver stress and factors that have a buffering effect on caregiver stress and unmet needs identified from caregivers’ experiences. Research limitations/implications – The authors found that there were a number of factors contributing to caregiver stress. The findings matched with the concept that caregiver stress should not be considered as the primary cause of elder abuse. Findings provided information for further research to investigate positive coping and adjustment for stroke survivors, caregivers and their families. Practical implications – Policy makers and service providers may consider specific policies and tailor-made services to enhance the effectiveness of current practice. The themes emerging from the study could be further reviewed in a longitudinal way to explore the cost-effectiveness, the outcomes and trajectory of interventional programmes. Social implications – Education would be essential to let the public understand caregivers’ difficulties and needs. Prevention of elder abuse may be approached with a range of risk factors for both perpetrating and being elder abuse victim. Originality/value – From the findings of the study, the authors found that there were service gaps within policy and interventions. Concrete suggestions for improving the public's attitude and public facilities/transport for the disabled were captured in the study. In addition to personal resilience, caregivers had a strong wish for a supportive environment and services that would facilitate a better caregiving outcome.


2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marichen Van der Westhuizen ◽  
Assim H. Alpaslan ◽  
Mariana De Jager

Treatment of chemical addiction includes preparation for treatment, formal treatment and aftercare. The latter appears to be a neglected area in service delivery to chemically addicted adolescents, contributing to the high relapse potential following treatment. The current qualitative study aimed at both exploring and describing the aftercare needs of chemically addicted adolescents. The chemically addicted adolescents included in this study received in-patient treatment as well as aftercare, but nonetheless experienced a relapse; necessitating further in-patient treatment. Purposive sampling was implemented to recruit 31 participants between the ages of 14 and 20 years. The sample size was determined by data saturation. Data for this exploratory, descriptive and contextual study were collected by means of narrative inquiry. Tesch’s framework for qualitative data analysis was employed and data verification was conducted through Guba’s model. The findings illustrated a need to attend to adolescents intrapersonal and interpersonal as well as environmental needs following treatment. The results can provide service providers with focus areas to be included in aftercare services to these adolescents.Die behandeling van chemiese afhanklikheid sluit die voorbereiding vir behandeling, formele behandeling en nasorg in. Laasgenoemde blyk ‘n afgeskeepte area te wees in die lewering van dienste aan chemies-afhanklike adolessente, wat bydra tot die hoë terugvalpotensiaal wat op die behandeling volg. Hierdie kwalitatiewe studie was daarop gerig om die nasorgbehoeftes van chemies-afhanklike adolessente te verken, sowel as te beskryf. Die chemies-afhanklike adolessente wat by hierdie studie ingesluit was het vantevore beide binnepasiëntbehandeling en nasorg ontvang, maar ten spyte hiervan teruggeval; wat verdere binnepasiëntbehandeling genoodsaak het. Doelbewuste steekproefneming is geïmplementeer om 31 deelnemers tussen die ouderdomme van 14 en 20 jaar te werf. Die steekproefgrootte was deur middel van data versadiging bepaal. Data vir hierdie verkennende, beskrywende en kontektuele studie is versamel deur middel van narratiewe ondersoek. Tesch se raamwerk vir kwalitatiewe data-analise is toegepas en dataverifikasie is uitgevoer aan die hand van Guba se model. Die bevindings illustreer ‘n behoefte om intrapersoonlike en interpersoonlike, asook omgewingsbehoeftes wat op behandeling volg, aan te spreek as deel van nasorg. Die resultate kan diensleweraars van fokusareas voorsien wat ingesluit kan word in nasorgdienste aan hierdie adolessente.


2011 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Hassan ◽  
S. Visagie ◽  
G. Mji

Recovery  after  stroke  is  often  incomplete  and  many  stroke  survivors depend on family caregivers. The demands of caring can negatively impact quality  of  life  of  these  carers.  This  study  explores  levels  of strain experienced  by  caregivers  and  the  variables  that  impact  on their strain. A  concurrent,  mixed  method,  descriptive  design  was  utilized. Fifty-seven caregivers  of  stroke  survivors  who  received  rehabilitation at the  Western  Cape  Rehabilitation  Centre  participated  in  the  study.  The Barthel  Index  and Caregiver  Strain  Index  were  utilised  to  collect quantitative  data,  which  was statistically analysed (p <0.05). Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews and thematically analysed.Fifty eight percent of caregivers were experiencing high levels of strain. The following variables significantly impacted on strain namely, caregiver loss of employment (0.04), emotional pressure (0.01), patient residual cognitive and perceptual impairments (0.01), personality changes (0.01) and physical dependency (0.0012).   According to the qualitative data the burden was aggravated by financial problems, patient perceptual problems and patient personality changes. The findings indicate the need for support after discharge, ongoing community support and respite care to enable time off for caregivers.


2021 ◽  
pp. 135910532110171
Author(s):  
Keming Yang ◽  
Nicole Armstrong ◽  
Clare Diamond ◽  
Alison R Lane ◽  
Stephen Dunne

This study explored stroke survivors’ experiences of loneliness. Drawing on interviews with 29 community-dwelling stroke survivors living in the Northeast of England, we found several themes: loneliness as being alone, the season or time, lack of understanding from those without any experience of stroke, reduced autonomy, and deterioration of social relations. It is important that healthcare professionals pay attention to the aspects of life that may increase the chances of a stroke survivor becoming lonely after being discharged from hospital, and to measure loneliness in stroke survivors a more valid scale should include items that touch on the aspects reported here.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 593-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Mizanur Rahman ◽  
Norlizabinti Suut ◽  
Zabidahbinti Putit ◽  
Mohamad Taha Arif ◽  
Asri Bin Said ◽  
...  

Background: Stroke survivors experience long-term physical, psychosocial and cognitive impairment that are formidable challenges to caregivers because caring for stroke survivors needs explicit knowledge and caregivers have to endure the stressfulness as a result of caring. In addition, little is known about perceived benefits of the stroke care giving experience.Objectives: This study was aimed to determine the caregivers’ burden and challenges as reported by caregivers of stroke survivors.Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 18 stroke caregivers. The data were collected from November 2015 to June 2016 at a conveniently selected community rehabilitation centre in Kuching, Sarawak.Results: The qualitative data analysis revealed that the burden was aggravated by financial problems, multiple responsibilities hold by the caregivers, behavioural changes of the stroke survivors and lack of social support during care giving.Conclusion: This study highlighted the experiences by the caregivers in caring for the stroke survivors that focused on the different needs of the caregivers. Understanding these experiences may help the service providers to provide better support and resources for caregivers in caring for stroke survivors.Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.17(4) 2018 p.593-599


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. e036631
Author(s):  
Shilpa Tyagi ◽  
Gerald Choon-Huat Koh ◽  
Nan Luo ◽  
Kelvin Bryan Tan ◽  
Helen Hoenig ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo study the association of caregiver factors and stroke survivor factors with supervised community rehabilitation (SCR) participation over the first 3 months and subsequent 3 to 12 months post-stroke in an Asian setting.DesignProspective cohort study.SettingCommunity setting.ParticipantsWe recruited stroke survivors and their caregivers into our yearlong cohort. Caregiver and stroke survivor variables were collected over 3-monthly intervals. We performed logistic regression with the outcome variable being SCR participation post-stroke.Outcome measuresSCR participation over the first 3 months and subsequent 3 to 12 months post-strokeResults251 stroke survivor-caregiver dyads were available for the current analysis. The mean age of caregivers was 50.1 years, with the majority being female, married and co-residing with the stroke survivor. There were 61%, 28%, 4% and 7% of spousal, adult-child, sibling and other caregivers. The odds of SCR participation decreased by about 15% for every unit increase in caregiver-reported stroke survivor’s disruptive behaviour score (OR: 0.845; 95% CI: 0.769 to 0.929). For every 1-unit increase in the caregiver’s positive management strategy score, the odds of using SCR service increased by about 4% (OR: 1.039; 95% CI: 1.011 to 1.068).ConclusionWe established that SCR participation is jointly determined by both caregiver and stroke survivor factors, with factors varying over the early and late post-stroke period. Our results support the adoption of a dyadic or more inclusive approach for studying the utilisation of community rehabilitation services, giving due consideration to both the stroke survivors and their caregivers. Adopting a stroke survivor-caregiver dyadic approach in practice settings should include promotion of positive care management strategies, comprehensive caregiving training including both physical and behavioural dimensions, active engagement of caregivers in rehabilitation journey and conducting regular caregiver needs assessments in the community.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhe WANG ◽  
Shujuan CHEN ◽  
Junning CHEN ◽  
Chunfeng XU ◽  
Zhikang CHEN ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Relapse is very common in patients with illicit drug use disorder and contributes to a series of bad consequences that substantially impact their physical and social functions. Due to the limited existence of effective addiction treatment, the majority of patients with drug use disorder could not access help when needing. Mobile health (mHealth) offers a potential solution to improving recovery outcome for patients in community. OBJECTIVE This paper is a protocol for a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a smart phone application called community-based addiction rehabilitation electronic system (CAREs). This interactive system consists of an APP for clients and a webpage for service providers, with the aim of teaching clients craving and emergency coping skills and helping service providers to improve their work efficiency and effectiveness in community. METHODS A randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted. Sixty drug illicit users who are newly ordered to undergo community rehabilitation will be recruited from the community in Shanghai. Participants will be 1:1 randomly assigned to receive integrated community rehabilitation by using CAREs or only receiving routine community rehabilitation for 6 months. Corresponding anti-drug social workers will provide service and monitor their drug use behavior in accordance with the routine work-flow. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline and in the 6th month. The primary study outcome is the performance on illicit drug urine test which will be carried on regularly twice per week during the study period. Secondary study outcomes include longest duration of sustained abstinence, days that participants interact with anti-drug social workers, and the decrease rate of addiction-related issues severity index. RESULTS Recruitment is currently underway with the aim of recruiting 60 subjects with drug use disorder. Recruitment will continue until the end of 2018. CONCLUSIONS This is the first known trial of a smartphone-based psychotherapy program for improving recovery outcomes in illicit drug users in community. The study provides evidence for the feasibility and effectiveness of the "CAREs" system through comparing the results of the intervention group with the control group. This paper describes the design and methodology of the study. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03451344, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03451344


Author(s):  
Ifeanyichukwu Anthony Ogueji ◽  
Samson Femi Agberotimi ◽  
Bolaji Johnson Adesanya ◽  
Taiwo Nurudeen Gidado

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shilpa Tyagi ◽  
Gerald Choon-Huat Koh ◽  
Nan Luo ◽  
Kelvin Bryan Tan ◽  
Helen Hoenig ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Outpatient medical follow-up post-stroke is not only crucial for secondary prevention but is also associated with a reduced risk of rehospitalization. However, being voluntary and non-urgent, it is potentially determined by both healthcare needs and the socio-demographic context of stroke survivor-caregiver dyads. Therefore, we aimed to examine the role of caregiver factors in outpatient medical follow-up (primary care (PC) and specialist outpatient care (SOC)) post-stroke. Method Stroke survivors and caregivers from the Singapore Stroke Study, a prospective, yearlong, observational study, contributed to the study sample. Participants were interviewed 3-monthly for data collection. Counts of PC and SOC visits were extracted from the National Claims Database. Poisson modelling was used to explore the association of caregiver (and patient) factors with PC/SOC visits over 0–3 months (early) and 4–12 months (late) post-stroke. Results For the current analysis, 256 stroke survivors and caregivers were included. While caregiver-reported memory problems of a stroke survivor (IRR: 0.954; 95% CI: 0.919, 0.990) and caregiver burden (IRR: 0.976; 95% CI: 0.959, 0.993) were significantly associated with lower early post-stroke PC visits, co-residing caregiver (IRR: 1.576; 95% CI: 1.040, 2.389) and negative care management strategies (IRR: 1.033; 95% CI: 1.005, 1.061) were significantly associated with higher late post-stroke SOC visits. Conclusion We demonstrated that the association of caregiver factors with outpatient medical follow-up varied by the type of service (i.e., PC versus SOC) and temporally. Our results support family-centred care provision by family physicians viewing caregivers not only as facilitators of care in the community but also as active members of the care team and as clients requiring care and regular assessments.


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