Caregivers in spinal cord injury patients care burden of depression, anxiety and effect on life satisfaction

Burden of care can affect the lives of caregivers. In caregivers, depression and anxiety may occur due to care burden and life satisfaction of caregivers may decrease. In this study, we investigated whether the burden of care in individuals who care for patients with spinal cord injury affects depression, anxiety, and life satisfaction. The study was carried out with the caregivers of 80 spinal cord injuries 28 of whom were male and 55 of them were female. Sociodemographic form, Zarit Care Burden Scale, General Anxiety Scale, Psychological Health Scale and Life Satisfaction Scale were used in the study. According to the results of study, depression and anxiety levels of individuals caring for patients with spinal cord injury are correlated with burden of care, however, these are not related with life satisfaction. As extra purposes, relationships between demographic variables and burden of care and relationships between anxiety, depression and life satisfaction were examined. According to the observations, gender is associated with burden of care, depression and worry, at the same time, level of income is associated with worry, burden of care and life satisfaction. On the other hand, care burden, anxiety, life satisfaction and depression of caregivers are correlated with age, educational level, marital status and injury level of patient according to the examinations.