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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology for Clinical Settings
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1435867
This article is part of the Research Topic Adapting and Implementing Behavioral Activation Across Diverse Contexts View all articles

Family Resilience and Social Support as Mediators of Caregiver Burden and Capacity in Stroke Caregivers: A Cross-Sectional Study

Provisionally accepted
Qihang Xu Qihang Xu 1Jingjing Ma Jingjing Ma 2*Yiqing Zhang Yiqing Zhang 2*Jiehua Gan Jiehua Gan 3*
  • 1 Department of Pharmacy, Ningbo Medical Centre Li Huili Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China
  • 2 Ningbo Medical Centre Lihuili Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China
  • 3 Department of Neurology, Ningbo Medical Centre Li Huili Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Caring for stroke survivors poses significant challenges to survivors and caregivers; understanding these relationships can inform targeted interventions and support systems.Aim: This study investigates the influencing factors of caregiver burden and the potential mediating roles of family resilience and perceived social support between caregiver burden and caregiver capacity.Design: This is a cross-sectional study.The participants in this study included 462 stroke survivors and their primary caregivers from Ningbo Lihuili Hospital in Zhejiang Province, China.Primary caregivers completed several assessments, including the Shortened Chinese Version of the Family Resilience Assessment Scale (FRAS), the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS), the Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZCBI), and the Family Caregiver Task Inventory (FCTI). The ZCBI was used to evaluate caregiver burden, while the activities of daily living (ADL) were assessed for stroke survivors to measure their actual level of dependence. The mediating effect of family resilience was estimated using the bootstrap method through Jamovi version 2.3.0 with the mediation plug-in, while controlling for sociodemographic variables.The results showed that caregiver burden was influenced by stroke survivors' level of dependence on activities of daily living (ADL), caregiver education level, caregiver health status, and average daily care time. The family resilience mediated the relationship between caregiver burden and caregiver capacity (b = 0.141; 95% confidence interval: 0.091 to 0.176). Additionally, perceived social support mediated the relationship between caregiver burden and caregiver capacity (b = 0.080; 95% confidence interval: 0.041 to 0.110).These findings indicate that enhancing family resilience and perceived social support can be strategies for alleviating caregiver burden. Clinical practitioners should actively assess the family resilience and social support of stroke survivors, and implement interventions that promote resilience and strengthen social support, thereby reducing caregiver burden and improving the health outcomes of stroke survivors.

    Keywords: Stroke, Family, resilience, Caregivers, Burden, Capacity, Cross-sectional survey, Nursing Stroke

    Received: 21 May 2024; Accepted: 15 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Xu, Ma, Zhang and Gan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Jingjing Ma, Ningbo Medical Centre Lihuili Hospital, Ningbo, 315010, Zhejiang Province, China
    Yiqing Zhang, Ningbo Medical Centre Lihuili Hospital, Ningbo, 315010, Zhejiang Province, China
    Jiehua Gan, Department of Neurology, Ningbo Medical Centre Li Huili Hospital, Ningbo, 315010, Zhejiang Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.