| Abstrakt: |
Background: Decreasing mortality from injuries has led to a rise in associated long-term health expenditures. Although survivors of injured individuals with long-term disabilities have been studied, the care-related problems of their primary caregiver have not been adequately addressed. Purpose: This study explores the stress, illness representations, quality of life, and predictors of quality of life in the primary caregivers of patients with injuries. Methods: A cross-sectional design was applied. Data were collected at two hospitals in southern Taiwan. A total of 150 caregivers of injured patients were enrolled as participants. A demographic datasheet for both the caregivers and their care recipient, the Chinese Illness Perception Questionnaire Revised-Trauma, the Caregiver Stress Scale, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0. Results: Findings show that the caregiver participants perceived higher identity, timeline, consequences and emotional representations, indicating they have more negative feelings toward the injury. This study showed that they have a higher level stress and lower quality of life than caregivers attending to patients in other care-need categories. The significant predictors of overall quality of life include: emotional representations, controllability, timeline cyclical, and stress. The consequences predict some domains of quality of life. Conclusions / Implications for Practice: The results indicate that caregivers of injured individuals face high levels stress, a low quality of life, and negative illness representations. To improve medical care, professionals should properly assess the associated resources of patients and caregivers as well as their discharge preparations. In terms of future research, longitudinal studies on caregivers of injured patients may be beneficial to provide better nursing care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
