İnvestigation of factors affecting readiness of caregiver for stroke patients

Objective: The present study aims to investigate the factors affecting the readiness of caregivers for stroke patients. Method: This cross-sectional descriptive study included 185 caregivers who met the inclusion criteria and volunteered to participate in the study and who applied to the Neurology Clinic of Neurology Department of Dokuz Eylül University Research and Application Hospital and to the Neurology Clinic of İzmir Bozyaka Research Hospital of İzmir Provincial Health Directorate between November 2018 - March 2019. The data were collected by the researcher through face to face interviews; however, some data were collected from the patients' files. Based on the available literature, "Caregiver Presentation Form", "Patient Information Form", "Barthel Daily Living Activities Index", and "Preparedness For Caregiving Scale" were used in the study. Percentage calculations, mean values, Student t-test, Mann Whitney-U, ANOVA, and Kruskal Wallis analyzes were used to evaluate the data. Results: The mean total score of the "Preparedness For Caregiving Scale" of the caregivers participating in the study was 29.27 + 2.17. In the analyzes performed between the sociodemographic characteristics of the caregivers and their readiness; there was a significant difference between gender (p = 0.034), age group (p = 0.000), educational level (p = 0.004), working condition (p = 0.024), marital status (p = 0.002), number of children (p = 0.000), presence of chronic disease (p = 0.007), and caregivers with patient care experience (p = 0.001); there was a significant difference between the mean total score of the readiness scale. The analyzes performed between the sociodemographic characteristics of the patients included in the study and the readiness of caregivers revealed a significant difference between the mean total score of the readiness scale and the number of children (p = 0.01) and educational level (p = 0.001). Furthermore, 26.5% of the caregivers were eager to get information regarding the daily care of the patients. Conclusion: The mean total score of the caregivers readiness for stroke patients shows that they feel moderate readiness for caregiving. According to the results of the present study, it is recommended to increase the effectiveness of discharge training, to organize training and consultancy programs to increase the readiness of the caregivers, to monitor the caregivers at regular intervals, and to provide the necessary institutional support for them. Keywords; Stroke; caregiver; readiness.