Abstract:
The purpose of this descriptive research was to examine factors influencing
caregiver role strain of daughters in patients with cerebrovascular disease. The samples were
110 daughter caregivers who accompanied the patients to follow-ups at neuromedical clinics
of the Out-Patient Department at Prasat Neurological Institute or King Chulalongkorn
Memorial Hospital. The research instruments were Demographic data, Strain from worry,
Mutuality, Preparedness, Rewards of Caregiving, and Caregiver role strain questionnaires.
The data were collected between January and May 2003 and analyzed by descriptive
statistics, Pearson’s product moment correlation, and stepwise multiple regression.
The result showed that the samples had ages ranging from 18 to 64 years with an
average of 39 years. More than half of the samples were single (56.4%).Equal numbers
completed elementary level schooling as completed a bachelor’s degree (29.1%). Many of
them had family income less than 10,000 baht per month (36.4%) and left their jobs to be
caregivers (27.3%). The average duration of care was 26.7 months and the average time
spent in caregiving was 12.8 hour per day. Most of them had no experience of caregiving
before (87.3 %), had received information and skill training in caring (77.3%), had at least
one caregiving assistant (85.5 %), had some health problem before taking the caregiving
role (35.5%), and had health problems during taking the caregiving role (49.1%). Some of
them (26.4%) had other persons to care for as well as the CVD patient. The reasons for
becoming a caregiver were duty or responsibility (79.1%) and love or bonding (77.3%).
Strain from worry was positively related to caregiver role strain at a moderate level with
significance (r =.447, p<.001). Preparedness, rewards of caregiving, and family economic
status were negatively related to caregiver role strain at a low level with significance
(r =-.295, p<.01, r =-.226, p<.01, r =-.197, p<.05). Strain from worry was able to predict
caregiver role strain, and could explain 20.0 percent. Preparedness could explain up to 30.3
percent.
The implications from this study are that nurses should evaluate strain from worry,
preparedness, positive feelings from caregiving of caring, economic problems, and health
status. Moreover, nurses should plan to promote health continuously for daughter caregivers
of CVD patients.