Abstract 442: Caregiver Burden, Stress, Depression, and Quality of Life in Family Caregivers of Patients with Heart Failure

Abstract

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a chronic disease, which is considered an important strategy to support HF patients for lifetime self-management and monitoring of worsening signs and symptoms of patients at home. However, the necessity of management throughout the whole life demands a great deal of challenge and coping of HF patients as well as their family caregivers. Purpose: We aimed to explore the levels of caregiver burden, stress, depression, and quality of life (QOL) in family caregivers of patients with HF, and to identify the relationships among the variables. Methods: A descriptive and exploratory study design was used. After approval of institutional review board, 64 family caregivers of patients with HF were recruited from a cardiovascular outpatient clinic at a university-affiliated hospital in Korea, between September 2018 and January 2019. We assessed the caregiver burden using Montgomery’s scale, stress by heart rate variability measurement, depression using geriatric depression scale, and QOL using WHO-QOL scale. Results: Participants’ mean age was 52.0 years, and the average length of care was 7.5 years. Most of them were the patient’s wife or child (female), and half of them had their own health problems such as hypertension and back pain. The total mean score of caregiver burden, stress, depression, and QOL of family caregivers were 68.5 (out of 95), 39.8 (out of 100), 8.0 (out of 15), and 93.8 (out of 140), respectively. Their QOL showed negative correlations with caregiver burden and stress, and the levels of caregiver burden and stress increased with HF disease period. Conclusion: Healthcare providers should be aware of the importance of support for family caregivers of patients with HF. It is necessary to develop practical strategies to improve the QOL and to alleviate caregiver burden, stress and depression of family caregivers. And ultimately, it will enable them for positive participation in the comprehensive disease management with patients with HF.