Social Stressful Life Research Articles

Exploring the Relationship between the Caregiver's Stress Load and Dementia Patient Behavior: A Case Study of Dementia Specialist Outpatient Data from the Southern Medical Center of Taiwan.

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between caregivers’ stress loads and dementia patient behavior, including the correlation of “patient behavior” (severity and frequency), “social care system”, and “stress levels of caregivers”. The research method was based on the analysis of survey data collected at a dementia specialist outpatient clinic of a medical center in southern Taiwan from November 2013 to May 2015. Those surveyed by the center included patients who visited the hospital, and their caregivers completed a questionnaire survey. During the study period, a total of 558 questionnaires for 279 pairs were distributed, and all questionnaires were recovered. According to the survey statistics, the average age of the caregivers interviewed was 53.1 years; women accounted for 61.3% of respondents, and the duration of care exceeded three years. In terms of education, most respondents were college/university graduates. The most common surveyed relationship was that of children acting as the caregiver to a parent, and the average age of the patients was 77.73 years. Most caregivers were found to live with the patients (75.3%). In terms of severity and frequency, the surveyed items with the highest average scores were both the “delusion” item of the “patient behavior” facet, the “mental support”(mean = 1.97; standard deviation, SD = 0.869) item of the “social care system” facet, and the “social life stress” (mean = 2.26, SD = 1.510) item of the “Stress levels of caregivers” facet. The research results show that the “patient behavior” and “Stress levels of caregivers” facets have a significant positive correlation, and the “social care system” and “Stress levels of caregivers” facets have a significant negative correlation. In the future, priority of service planning and implementation of long–term policy should be given to home care, since this is a cultural characteristic of Taiwan. In circumstances where a primary caregiver takes care of family members, the patient’s behavior, length of care, mental support, and social life issues are key items that should be considered in the social welfare control service to alleviate the load of dementia patients on family caregivers.

Impact of chronic wound on quality of life among diabetic foot ulcer patients in a selected hospital of Guwahati, Assam, India.

Background:Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is an important mortality factor among diabetes mellitus (DM) patients and has a massive impact on the quality of life (QoL) of patients. The non-heal foot ulcer needs extra care and need special attention in maintaining wound hygiene. Dressing on wound is done in four stages such as cleanse the wound, debridement of wound, fashioning of edges and final dressing. The important stage of cleanse the wound was done with solution extracted from neem leaves which has medicinal value and anti-biotic properties and was used instead of normal saline or water solution, which do not carry medicinal value. Other medicinal solutions are of high cost as well as not easily available such as octanedione dihydrochloride or hypochlorous acid etc.Aims:This study was aimed to investigate the impact of DFU on QoL among patients suffering from chronic wounds.Materials and methods:A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted at foot care clinic in a private hospital situated at Guwahati, Assam. Data were collected using a pro forma consisting of sociodemographic variables, Wagner ulcer classification and Cardiff wound impact questionnaire. Analysis of data was done using the descriptive and inferential statistical methods.Results:A total of 118 DFU patients of type 1 and 2 DM were studied. Out of which, 81.4% were male and 18.6% were female. About 66 participants (55.9%) were in grade 2 and 38 (32.2%) were in grade 3 of Wagner ulcer classification. Overall mean score for QoL was 6.27, whereas overall mean score for satisfaction on QoL was 7.01. Patients had the highest score in the well-being domain and lowest in the social life stress. Computation of correlation matrix and factor analysis showed a positive correlation between QoL and satisfaction and negative correlation between QoL and satisfaction with stressful experience of social life and physical symptoms experience (P < 0.05, 0.01). Multiple regression analysis reveals that satisfaction had a significant impact on QoL (P < 0.001) with r2 = 62.59%. Factor analysis of correlation matrix showed that physical symptoms and daily living experiences and social experiences as well as stress dominated factor 1 followed by satisfaction led QoL in factor 2 and social life stress was the leading force in factor 3.Conclusion:QoL of patients with DFUs can be improved by educating the diabetic patients on the prevention and early detection of foot ulcers, other diabetic complications, and availing benefits of prevailing health-care facility in early stages.