Depressive Symptom Trajectories in Family Caregivers of Stroke Survivors During First Year of Caregiving

Misook L. Chung, Suk Jeong Lee, Youn Jung Son, Jennifer L. Miller, Rosemarie B. King

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background The purpose of this study was to identify patterns of depressive symptom trajectory and examine the associations of the symptom trajectory with caregiving burden, family function, social support, and perceived health status of caregivers of stroke survivors during the first year of caregiving after discharge from rehabilitation center. Methods Caregivers of stroke survivors completed a survey of depressive symptoms, caregiving burden, family function, perceived availability of social support, and perceived health status at postdischarge and 1 year. Patterns of depressive symptom trajectory (ie, symptom-free, symptom relieved, symptom developed, and persistent symptom groups) were identified by grouping depressive symptoms based on 2 assessments using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression. Repeated-measures analysis of variance and multinomial logistic regression were used to examine the associations. Results Of the 102 caregivers, 57.8% were symptom-free, 20.6% experienced persistent depressive symptoms, 11.8% relieved depressive symptoms, and 9.8% developed depressive symptoms. There were significant changes in family function (Wilks λ = 0.914, P =.038) and perceived health status (Wilks λ = 0.914, P =.033) among the groups during the first year of caregiving. The persistent symptom group reported the highest level of burden and the lowest level of family function and perceived availability of social support at both assessment times. Compared with symptom-free caregivers, caregivers with persistent depressive symptoms were 7 times more likely to have fair/poor health rather than excellent/very good health at 1 year (odds ratio, 7.149; P =.012). Conclusion Caregivers with persistent depressive symptoms are the most vulnerable to negative psychosocial outcomes and poor perceived health status during the first year of caregiving from discharge for stroke survivors.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)254-262
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Cardiovascular Nursing
Volume36
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was supported by NIH R01NR02416 (King, PI) and the Chung-Ang University research grants (2018).

Publisher Copyright:
© Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • caregivers
  • depressive symptoms
  • health status
  • longitudinal study
  • stroke

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
  • Advanced and Specialized Nursing

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