Abstract
BackgroundDepression and anxiety result in psychological distress, which can further affect mental status and quality of life in stroke patients. Exploring the associations between positive psychological variables and symptoms of psychological distress following stroke is of great significance for further psychological interventions.MethodsA total of 710 stroke patients from the five largest cities in Liaoning Province in China were enrolled into the present study in July 2014. All patients independently completed the questionnaires with respect to psychological distress and positive psychological variables. Depressive and anxiety symptoms were evaluated using Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, respectively. Positive psychological variables were evaluated using Perceived Social Support Scale, Adult Hope Scale (AHS), General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale and Resilience Scale-14 (RS-14). Activities of Daily Living (ADL) was measured using Barthel Index. Factors associated with psychological variables and depressive and anxiety symptoms were identified using t-test, ANOVA, correlation and hierarchical linear regression analysis.ResultsDepressive and anxiety symptoms were present in 600 of 710 (84.51%) and 537 of 710 (75.63%) stroke patients enrolled, respectively.Social support (β = − 0.111, p < 0.001) and hope (β = − 0.120, p < 0.001) were negatively associated with both depressive and anxiety symptoms.Resilience (β = − 0.179, p < 0.001) was negatively associated with depressive symptoms.Self-efficacy (β = − 0.135, p < 0.001) was negatively associated with anxiety symptoms. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that ADL accounted for 10.0 and 6.0% of the variance of depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively.Social support, resilience, self-efficacy and hope as a whole accounted for 7.5 and 5.3% of the variance of depressive and anxiety symptoms.ConclusionsThe high frequency of depressive and anxiety symptoms among Chinese stroke survivors should receive attentions from all stakeholders. Findings suggested that intervention strategies on ADL, social support, hope, resilience and self-efficacy could be developed to improve psychosocial outcomes for stroke survivors.
Highlights
Depression and anxiety result in psychological distress, which can further affect mental status and quality of life in stroke patients
Our results indicated that hope has significant impacts on both depressive and anxiety symptoms in stroke patients
In addition to the practical implications, this study has evaluated the prevalence of psychological distress among stroke patients, which would be helpful for early identification of the psychological disorders that could be reduced through further interventions
Summary
Depression and anxiety result in psychological distress, which can further affect mental status and quality of life in stroke patients. Even after the disease is cured, owing maybe due to the high reoccurrence rate and poor prognosis, stroke survivors may still experience high level of psychological distress [9,10,11]. Researches in this field mainly focused on depression and anxiety in stroke patients [12], since the two symptoms have negative influences on recovery [13] and tend to result in complications and disability or even early death [14, 15]. Reducing depressive and anxiety symptoms of stroke survivors is essential for stroke recovery and extends the survival time of the patients
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