Assessing Caregiver Burden and Relationship between Caregiver Burden and Basic Activities of Daily Living in Stroke Patients with Spasticity
Phichamon Khanittanuphong MD*, Wipawan Leelasamran MD*
Affiliation : * Rehabilitation Division, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Physical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand
Objective : To evaluate caregiver burden of stroke patients with spasticity and to study the relationship between the caregiver
burden and the ability to perform basic activities of daily living (bADL) of these patients.
Material and Method: The study design was a cross-sectional descriptive research. The demographic data of 52 stroke
patients with spasticity and their caregivers at Songklanagarind Hospital in Thailand were recorded. The Zarit Burden
Interview (ZBI) in the Thai version measured the caregiver burdens. The modified Barthel Index (BI) evaluated the bADL
of the patients. The correlation between the ZBI and modified BI were calculated by The Spearman’s rank correlation
coefficient (rs) with p<0.05 considered as a significant level.
Results : The caregivers were mainly female (80.8%) who felt no burden (57%). The ZBI score did not significantly relate
to the modified BI in either the activity or total score. However, the ZBI score was significantly associated to the caring
hours per day (median 14 hours/day, rs = 0.37, p = 0.007) and left hemiparesis (p = 0.03).
Conclusion : Most caregivers realized that stroke survivors with spasticity were not a burden. There was no relationship
between the caregiver burden and the bADL of the patients, but the burden was related to daily caregiving hours and stroke
that affected the left side of the body.
Keywords : Stroke, Spasticity, Caregiver burden, Activities of daily living
