| Objective:To investigate the psychosocial burden of family caregivers of the patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) in convalescent and to identify the patient-related factors.Methods:A 15-item relatives' stress scale (RSS) was applied to 78 family caregivers of SCI patients to measure the psychosocial burden.Meanwhile,the demographic information as well as the functional assessments on psychological symptoms,independence in activities of daily living of the patients was collected through the self-made questionnaire,Self-rating Anxiety Scale,Self-rating Depression Scale and Modified Barthel Index.The burden character was described with mean and standard deviation,and then a multiple stepwise regression was applied to identify the significant covariance.Results:Most of the families enrolled endured a moderate to severe burden with the mean sum score of RSS being 36.1±11.4,and the mostly affected aspect was life upset.The highly complained items included difficulties to get away on holiday,social life disrupted and upset in household activities.Through the multiple stepwise regression,the higher burden was significantly associated with the depression status (β=0.307,P=0.002),the onset duration (β=0.032,P=0.007) and injury severity (β=0.132,P=0.004).Conclusion:Family caregiver of patient with SCI commonly endured with moderate to considerable psychosocial burden and all of the onset duration,the depression symptom and the severity of injury associated with it. |
