Levels Of Anxiety In Caregivers Research Articles

The impact of video calls on the anxiety level among patients’ caregivers at Viet Duc Hospital during covid-19 pandemics

Objectives: To assess the impact of video call on the anxiety level of caregivers at the intensive care unit 2 at Viet Duc Hospital during COVID-19 pandemics. Research participants and methods: Intervention study comparing 2 groups on 62 caregivers of patients who were treated at Intensive Care Unit 2 of Viet Duc Hospital from January 2022 to November 2022 based on Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale. Results: Assessing the level of anxiety in the video call group: Severe anxiety was 71%, no pathological anxiety and very severe anxiety was 0%. Among the research participants in the video call group, the proportion of people who felt panicked for no reasons accounted for 71%, and 61.3% felt more impatient and anxious than usual, those felt limbs swaying, trembling, weak and easily tired, breathing in and out easily were 3.2%, 3.1%, 3.2% respectively. Anxiety level in video calls at mild to moderate anxiety accounted for the highest rate of 93.5%; The rate of very severe anxiety is 0%. Conclusion: Video calls for caregivers significantly reduced anxiety proportion compared to non-video calls.

The influence of glioblastoma on patients' cognitive and demographic characteristics and psychological well-being of patients and caregivers: a single-centre retrospective study.

Glioblastoma, the most aggressive primary brain tumour in adults, poses significant challenges for patients and their caregivers. This study investigates a range of clinical parameters, such as symptoms, tumour characteristics, presence of seizures, mental status, and depression/anxiety, in glioblastoma patients. The rapid deterioration of physical and cognitive functions experienced by patients can have profound effects on both patients and their relatives throughout the course of the disease. The objective of this study was to examine and compare psychological symptoms between glioblastoma patients and their relatives. The study included 98 adult patients with glioblastoma who underwent pre- and postoperative cognitive assessments using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was also used to evaluate and compare psychological symptoms of patients and their relatives over time. Seizures were seen in 45.9% of patients, and the mean age of the patients was 60.1 ± 13.8 years. The patients were evaluated at various time intervals before and after surgery, and the data were retrospectively analyzed. The study found that before surgery, the anxiety levels of caregivers were significantly higher than those of patients during all evaluation periods. Additionally, the depression scores of caregivers were significantly higher than those of patients only in the first month following the operation. There were no significant differences in depression scores between patients and caregivers in the other assessment intervals. The average cognitive level of patients, as assessed by the MMSE scale was 22.4 before the operation and 20.9 after the operation. Glioblastoma has a significant impact on the mental health and emotional well-being of both patients and their relatives. This study highlights the importance of providing early support to both patients and their relatives before surgery. The study's strength is that it focuses on an early time point, prior to surgery, where both patients and their relatives are already affected and may require additional support. The results of this study can help healthcare professionals to better understand the psychological impact of glioblastoma and provide more targeted support to patients and their caregivers.

The Effect of COVID‐19 Lockdown on Dementia Caregivers in the U.S.

AbstractBackgroundIn response to the COVID‐19 pandemic, mandated state lockdowns in the U.S. profoundly changed day‐to‐day life for many individuals providing informal care for a person with dementia or mild cognitive impairment. The present study explored changes in caregiver burden, depression, and anxiety associated with lockdown.MethodWe used questionnaire data collected as part of a randomized controlled trial conducted between February 2019 ‐ June 2021. Participants (N = 260 familial caregivers for people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment living in the US) completed a baseline survey at the start of the study and follow‐up surveys every three months for six‐nine months. Questionnaires included the Zarit Burden Index, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. We determined the date of lockdown based on the first lockdown order issued in the participant’s state of residence. For each survey score, we also determined the number of days before or after the lockdown date.ResultThe mean age of caregivers in the sample was 63.93 years and 68% were female. A regression predicting caregiver burden from the days before/after lockdown revealed that burden decreased over time, (β = ‐0.008, p = .051). Consistent with this, comparing the average of all scores obtained after lockdown with those obtained before lockdown indicated that burden decreased during lockdown, (t(172) = ‐2.52, p = .013). Levels of caregiver anxiety and depression were not associated with days before/after lockdown and did not change from before lockdown to after lockdown (p’s >.05).ConclusionSurprisingly, caregivers in our sample experienced a decrease in burden associated with COVID lockdown. We believe this may result from lockdown providing relief from caregivers’ other responsibilities (e.g., being able to work from home, reduced social obligations). The lack of changes in anxiety and depression may reflect this as well, with these areas of relief offsetting some of the stresses that would normally result in worsening mood for caregivers. In future research we hope to further explore these complex relationships among lockdown, burden, depression, and anxiety.

The assessment of family caregivers’ anxiety in pediatric epilepsy : a cross-sectional sudy

IntroductionPediatric epilepsy is a debilitating disease that impacts not only children with epilpsy but also persons arround them. It is often considered as a source of anxiety for family caregivers.ObjectivesAssess the level of anxiety in caregivers of children with epilepsy and to identify factors related to it.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study between July and October 2020. It included caregivers of children with epilepsy hospitalized in the pediatric neurology department of Sfax. We used the STAI-Y scale to assess the level of state anxiety (STAI-AE).ResultsForty four womens participated in our study. Low socio-economic level was found in 31.8% of cases. The average age of children was 4.9 years. The mean duration of epilepsy was 2.2 years. It was comorbid with an autism spectrum disorder or an intellectual disability in 15.9% of cases. In 70.5% of the cases, the children were dependent on their caregivers in their daily lives. The level of anxiety was moderate in 27.3% and high to very high in 13.6% of them. A higher state-anxiety score was correlated with a longer duration of epilepsy (p=0.033), a lower familial socioeconomic level (p=0.013) and a higher number of children in family (p=0.048).ConclusionsPediatric epilepsy is associated with significant level of anxiety in family caregivers. This anxiety increases with the duration of the disease and with the presence of socioeconomic and family difficulties. Thus, psychosocial support for caregivers should be integrated into a global approach of the disease.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Behavioral Implications of the Covid-19 Process for Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Individuals' Comprehension of and Reactions to the Pandemic Conditions.

During disasters and pandemics, vulnerable populations such as patients with mental conditions are known to be overly influenced. Yet, not much is known about how the individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), one of the most common neurodevelopmental conditions globally with a prevalence of 1%, are affected from health-related disasters, especially the current Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, we conducted an investigation of how individuals with ASD responded to Covid-19 in terms of comprehension and adherence to implemented measures; changes in their behavioral problems; and how their caregivers' anxiety levels relate with these behavioral changes. Our sample consisted of 87 individuals with ASD (15 girls; ages ranged from 3–29, with an average of 13.96 ± 6.1). The majority of our sample had problems understanding what Covid-19 is and the measures it requires. They also had challenges in implementing social distance and hygiene-related regulations of the pandemic. The majority stopped receiving special education during this period. We observed a Covid-19-related clinical presentation that resembled PTSD in individuals with ASD in terms of increased stereotypies, aggression, hypersensitivity, behavioral problems, and sleep and appetite alterations. All subscales of Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) differed significantly between before and after the pandemic conditions. The number of hours the children slept significantly decreased from before to during Covid-19. The anxiety levels of caregivers were high and correlated with the current behavioral problem levels of their children, but not with the level of their behavioral problems before the pandemic. The difference in ABC total score and specifically the lethargy/social withdrawal subscale score predicted parents' anxiety score. Our results suggest that the Covid-19 period inflicts specific challenges to individuals with ASD and their caregivers, underlining the need for targeted, distance special education interventions and other support services for this population.

Children's Dental Anxiety during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Polish Experience.

Dental fear and anxiety is a significant issue that affects pediatric patients and creates challenges in oral health management. Considering that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, along with its associated sanitary regime, social distancing measures and nationwide quarantines, could itself induce public fears, including in children, it is of great interest to explore whether this situation and the necessity of reorganizing dental care could potentially affect the emotional state of pediatric patients facing a need for urgent dental intervention. The present study assessed the emotional state of children ≤ seven years old (n = 25) requiring dental healthcare during a nationwide quarantine in Poland, as well as the anxiety levels of their caregivers. The Faces Anxiety Scale was adopted, and the evaluation was independently performed by the dentist, caregivers and children themselves. The level of anxiety in caregivers was also measured. As demonstrated, children requiring dental intervention during the nationwide quarantine did not reveal a significantly higher anxiety level as compared to the age- and indication-matched pre-pandemic control group (n = 20), regardless of whether their emotional state was evaluated by the dentist, caregivers, or by themselves. However, the share of children scoring the lowest anxiety level in all assessments was smaller in the pandemic group. Boys in the pandemic group had a higher anxiety level, as indicated by a caregiver assessment, and displayed a negative correlation with age in all three types of evaluation. Moreover, caregiver anxiety levels were higher in the pandemic group as compared to the pre-pandemic subset and revealed stronger correlations with the dental anxiety in children. The results suggest that the reorganization of oral healthcare under the pandemic scenario did not have a profound effect on children’s dental anxiety. Nevertheless, findings in young boys highlight that they may be more vulnerable and require special care to mitigate their anxiety and decrease the risk of dentophobia in the future—these observations must be, however, treated with caution due to the small sample size and require further confirmation. Moreover, it is important to reassure caregivers of the safety of the dental visit during the pandemic to minimize the effect of their own anxiety on dental fears in children.

Effect of Informational Support on Anxiety in Family Caregivers of Patients with Hemiplegic Stroke

BackgroundBrain stroke causes physical and mental disabilities, as well as dependence on one's family. In such cases, the families suffer from severe crisis and anxiety due to the unexpected incidence of the disease and unawareness of the associated consequences. ObjectivesThe aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of informational support on the level of anxiety in family caregivers of hemiplegic stroke patients. MethodsThis quasi-experimental study was performed on 78 family caregivers of hemiplegic stroke patients admitted to the Neurology Department of Farshchian Hospital in Hamadan, Iran, over 8 months. The subjects were selected through convenience sampling method and divided into two groups of intervention (n = 40) and control (n = 38). Intervention started from the third day of hospitalization and continued until the eleventh day. During this period, information about the ward, equipment, patient status, and care procedure at home, was provided for the intervention group individually and in groups. On the other hand, the control group only received the routine care. Anxiety level of caregivers was measured through the Spielberger scale both before and after the intervention. Data analysis was performed in SPSS software (version 16). ResultsBased on the results, both groups were similar in terms of demographic variables (P > 0.05). Moreover, there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the mean level of state and trait anxiety before the intervention (P > 0.05). However, after intervention, the mean level of state and trait anxiety of the intervention group showed a significant reduction in comparison to that of the control group (P < 0.05). ConclusionsAccording to the findings, it can be concluded that informational support is effective in reducing the state and trait anxiety in family caregivers of stroke patients. Therefore, it is suggested that nurses consider informational support as an important nursing intervention during hospitalization.

Poor Disgust Suppression Is Associated with Increased Anxiety in Caregivers of People with Neurodegenerative Disease.

Caregivers of persons with neurodegenerative disease have high rates of mental health problems compared to noncaregiving adults. Emotion regulation may play an important role in preserving caregivers' mental health. We examined the associations between caregivers' emotion regulation measured in several ways (ability, habitual use, and self-ratings) and their mental health symptoms. Ninety-one caregivers of persons with neurodegenerative disease participated in a laboratory-based assessment of emotion regulation. In two series of tasks, caregivers were given different instructions (no instruction, suppress) regarding altering their emotional behavioral responses to disgusting films and acoustic startle stimuli. Caregivers' emotional behavior was measured via behavioral coding and caregivers rated "how much emotion" they showed during each task. Anxiety, depression, and habitual use of expressive suppression were measured via questionnaires. Poor emotion regulation in the disgust suppression condition (i.e., greater emotional behavior) was associated with greater anxiety. Associations were not found for the startle suppression condition, depression, or self-report measures of emotion regulation. Findings suggest that caregivers who are unable to suppress emotional behavior in response to disgusting stimuli may be at greater risk for anxiety. Given high levels of anxiety in caregivers, it may be useful to evaluate interventions that improve ability to downregulate emotional behavior.

Association between exercise training in haemodialysis patients and burden of their family caregivers: A cross-sectional study.

Considering that exercise programmes are related with a range of benefits for end-stage renal disease patients, we evaluated the association between haemodialysis (HD) patients' involvement in intradialytic exercise training with the burden of their family caregivers. In this cross-sectional study, 60 caregivers of HD patients were recruited, 30 of them who cared for patients that regularly participated in an exercise programme during dialysis sessions and 30 caregivers who looked after patients undergoing usual HD treatment without intradialytic exercise. The caregivers were submitted to the Caregiver Burden Scale (CBS) and their quality of life (short-form-36 (SF-36)), anxiety and depression levels were assessed. Data were expressed as mean ± SD or median (interquartile range). Multiple linear regression showed that the global CBS score was significantly associated with the exercise training after adjusting for age, educational level and anxiety level of caregivers, and dependency level of patients measured by the Lawton scale (coefficient of determination = 0.53; adjusted coefficient of determination = 0.48). Additionally, the caregivers of HD patients submitted to intradialytic exercise (42.0 ± 12.9 years, 33.3% male) compared to caregivers of patients undergoing usual treatment (50.7 ± 17.5 years, 26.7% male) exhibited less caregiver burden (global CBS score = 1.2 (0.2) vs 1.9 (0.7), P < 0.001), better quality of life (physical component score = 53.7 (9.6) vs 49.7 (16.2) and mental component score = 50.6 (17.5) vs 28.2 (32.5), P < 0.05) and lower anxiety (7.2 ± 4.2 vs 10.8 ± 4.1, P = 0.001) and depression levels (3.0 (3.3) vs 6.0 (5.3), P = 0.034), respectively. Intradialytic exercise training in HD patients was associated with lower burden of their family caregivers.

Nursing study of two different urethral stent flush methods for postoperative complications of hypospadias repair in children patients

Objective To explore the effect of two different urethral stent flush methods for postoperative complications of hypospadias repair in children patients. Methods A total of 182 cases of children patients who underwent urethroplasty with pedicled double skin flaps from March 2014 to March 2016 were divided into intervention group (n= 89) and the control group (n= 93) by using random number method. The control group was treated with gentamicin irrigation urethral stent; the intervention group was treated with gentamicin irrigation urethral stent, and the patients were trained to urinate twice with the stent from the fourth day after surgery. The incidence of urinary fistula and urethral stricture within one year after surgery, and the anxiety level of patients' caregivers were assessed. Results The incidence of urinary fistula in the intervention group and the control group were 5.7% (5/87) vs. 15.2% (14/92), and the difference was statistically significant(χ2=4.227, P<0.05). In the intervention group, the cases of non anxiety, mild anxiety, moderate anxiety and severe anxiety respectively were 33(37.9%), 42(48.3%), 8(9.2%) and 4(4.6%). However, in the control group the cases were 21(22.8%), 46(50.0%), 12(13.0%), 13(14.1%) respectively. The anxiety degree of patients' caregivers was significantly different between intervention group and control group (Z=2.757, P<0.01). Conclusions The training of early micturition with stent after hypospadias surgery can significantly reduce the incidence of urinary fistula and the anxiety level of caregivers. Key words: Nursing care; Complication; Hypospadias; Urethral stent flush

Impact of alcohol and substabce use by patients with schizophrenia on burden, quality of life, anxiety and depression levels of primary caregivers

Aim: Alcohol and substance use are the most common comorbidities among patients with schizophrenia, with significantly higher levels of burden reported among primary caregivers. In this study, we aimed to assess the impact of alcohol and substance use on caregivers, and the effects of the severity of disease symptoms and certain attributes of patients and their primary caregivers on the burden, depressive symptoms, quality of life, and anxiety levels of caregivers. Methods: We recruited 100 patients with schizophrenia according to DSM-IV TR from inpatient clinics of Bakirkoy Research and Training Hospital for Psychiatry, Neurology, and Neurosurgery and their primary caregivers from September 2010 to March 2011. The severity of patient symptoms was assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). All caregivers completed the Sociodemographic and Clinical data form, The Zarit Burden Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and WHO Quality of life-BREF. Results: The ages of caregivers and patients were 23–68 and 20–65 years, respectively. The primary caregiver was the patient’s mother in 53% of cases. We found levels of burden that were significantly higher for caregivers of patients with alcohol or substance use, and these were positively correlated with the positive psychotic subscale of PANSS. Caregivers of patients without alcohol and substance use had significantly higher scores for psychological and social relationship domains of WHOQOL-BREF. Discussion: Alcohol and substance use disorder which causing more complicated and severe needs of schizophrenia patients is associated with increased level of caregiver burden, depression and anxiety levels and decreased quality of life. Our findings suggest that there is a significant relationship between caregiver burden and alcohol and substance use by patients with schizophrenia.

Anxiety in Children submitted to Dental Appointment

Objective: To determine anxiety in children undergoing dental treatment and to evaluate associated factors. Material and Methods: The sample consisted of 48 children during dental appointment in dental clinics of the Franciscano University Center, 48 caregivers, and 46 dentistry students. The modified Venham Picture Test was used to determine anxiety of children during dental appointment, before and after treatment. For determining anxiety related to dental care among caregivers, the modified Corah’s dental anxiety scale was used. The Lipp`s stress symptoms inventory for adults was applied to determine the stress level of dentistry students. In addition, the individual characteristics of participants were recorded to determine their association with the presence of anxiety. Results: Anxiety was observed in 60.4% of children, and it was related to invasive dental procedures (p = 0.021), history of dental pain (p = 0.002), presence of bruxism (p = 0.028), anxious caregivers (p = 0.023), and stress of the dental student that conducted the appointment (p = 0.005). Conclusion: Overall, the majority of pediatric patients showed anxiety, which was directly related to misbehavior during dental care. Moreover, anxiety was related to individual characteristics of children and was influenced by the anxiety level of caregivers, as well as the emotional state of dentistry students during the dental appointment.

Effects of formal supports on stress outcomes in family caregivers of Alzheimer's patients.

The aim of this study was to examine whether formal support and coping would mediate the effects of primary stressors and caregiver characteristics on three stress outcomes: yielding of role, anxiety, and physical health. Secondary analysis of longitudinal data from a convenience sample of 452 spouse and adult child caregivers of Alzheimer's patients was used for model testing. Path analysis suggested that decreased physical health of the caregiver was best explained by caregiver overload. Caregiver anxiety was explained by lower levels of care receiver dependency, higher levels of caregiver overload, and higher levels of caregiver anxiety measured 1 year earlier. Yielding of the caregiver role was explained by the direct effect of higher levels of care receiver problem behaviors as well as more use of formal supports. Spouse relationship had a negative effect and care receiver dependency had a positive effect on yielding of the role through the mediating influence of formal support. Neither coping nor formal support mediated primary stressors and caregiver characteristics in the directions hypothesized.