Factors Influencing Burden in Spouse-Caregivers of Patients with Chronic-Acquired Brain Injury.

Stefania Laratta,Lucia Francesca Lucca,Paolo Tonin,Antonio Cerasa

doi:10.1155/2020/6240298

Abstract

In this cross-sectional study, we assess associated factors of burden in spouse-caregivers of patients with acquired brain injury (ABI) in the chronic phase. 35 spouse-caregivers (71% female, mean age ± SD: 55.7 ± 11.1y) of patients with mild/moderate ABI (29% female, mean age ± SD: 57.5 ± 10.7y), admitted to the intensive rehabilitation unit of the Institute S. Anna (Crotone, Italy) between January 2013 and December 2017, were contacted 2 years postinjury and asked to complete a series of questionnaires. The outcome measure was the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) test, while several demographical and clinical data were considered as predictive factors. Two years after injury, a high level of burden was reported in 34.2% of spouse-caregivers. Stepwise multiple linear regression analyses revealed that caring for a patient with more severe disability (as measured by the Barthel Index scale) and the family life cycle (from the initial phase of engagement to marriage with adult children) explain the vast majority of variance for higher caregiver burden. The functional clinical status and the stages through which a family may pass over time were identified as areas in which the spouse-caregiver of ABI patients experienced high levels of burden in the chronic phase.

Highlights

Acquired brain injury (ABI) is caused by head trauma or a cerebrovascular event, which can lead to cognitive, emotional, affective, and behavioral changes, invalidating patient’s feelings and family relationships
The study was realized on spouses of patients with acute traumatic or vascular brain injury who had consecutively been admitted to the intensive rehabilitation unit (IRU) of the Institute S
The ABI patients were characterized by a mild clinical status strongly improved after the IRU period (t − value = −10:8; p level < 0:0001)

Summary

Introduction

Acquired brain injury (ABI) is caused by head trauma or a cerebrovascular event, which can lead to cognitive, emotional, affective, and behavioral changes, invalidating patient’s feelings and family relationships. Assisting a person with cognitive disabilities as a result of brain damage has a large impact on the emotional and physical health of the caregiver. This type of caregiving can drastically influence the balance in reciprocal relationships, increasing emotional distress and changes in the perception of recovery or rehabilitation outcomes [3,4,5]. Zarit and colleagues [6] defined burden as “the extent to which caregivers perceive the adverse effect that caregiving has on their emotional, social, financial, and physical functioning.”

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Results

Conclusion