Research Article: Family functioning and patients’ depressive symptoms: comparison in perceived family function between patients who had an acute ischaemic stroke and their primary family caregivers – a cross-sectional study
Abstract:
Objectives This study aims to compare perceived family functioning between Chinese patients who had an acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) and family caregivers, and explore the association between family functioning and patients’ depressive symptoms. Design This is a cross-sectional study design. Setting Stroke centres of two tertiary hospitals in Nanjing, China. Participants One hundred and sixty-nine dyads of patients who had an AIS and family caregivers. Primary and secondary outcome measures Family functioning of patients who had an AIS and their primary family caregivers was assessed by the Family Assessment Device (FAD, Chinese version). Depressive symptoms of patients who had an AIS was assessed by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. We test the agreement and differences in family functioning. Multivariate linear regression models were used to test the association of differences of family functioning within dyads with patients’ depressive symptoms. Results AIS families demonstrated unhealthy family functioning. A total of 115 patients (76.9%) and 124 caregivers (73.4%) had a score of 2 or higher in FAD-general functioning (GF), indicating unhealthy family functioning. The intraclass correlation coefficient of FAD subdomain between patients who had an AIS and caregivers ranged from 0.15 to 0.55, which indicating the agreement of family functioning within dyads was poor to moderate. There was a significant difference between the FAD-GF scores of the patients and those of their caregivers ( Z =?2.631, p=0.009), with caregivers reporting poorer general family functioning. Poor family functioning and greater difference of perceived family functioning within dyads were related to higher level of patients’ depressive symptoms (?=5.163, p<0.001, ?=5.534, p<0.001, respectively). Conclusions These findings indicate that healthcare professionals should assess family functioning in both patients who had a stroke and caregivers. Improvement of family function and decreasing discrepancies within dyads may be helpful for relieving patients’ depressive symptoms.
Introduction:
Stroke is one of the leading cause of death and disability in the world. 1 With the accelerating process of population ageing in China, the prevalence of stroke also increases. There were 17?million patients who had a stroke in China in 2019. 2 Depression is a common consequence of impairments resulting from stroke. 3 Depression can occur during hospitalisation at acute stage and postdischarge at rehabilitation centre or at home. 4 Depression among stroke survivors was associated with poor physical functioning,…
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