Actual Physical Symptom and Stress in Caregivers of Patients with Cerebrovascular Disease

뇌혈관질환 환자를 돌보는 가족원의 신체증상과 스트레스

This study aims for examines the actual physical symptom and stress in caregivers of patients with cerebrovascular disease. The data were collected by a survey conducted from August to September, 1997 which included 65 caregivers of cerebrovascular disease patients in 4 hospitals located in Seoul. The caregiver's stress was measured by Choi (1992)'s instrument and the actual physical symptoms were investigated. The data were analyzed using ANOVA, Scheffe test, Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression. The results were as follows : 1. The mean number of caregiver's physical symptom was 3.5. There were significantly higher number of physical symptom in women, those of who have a religious affiliation, those of who perceive their own health status perceived as bad, and those of who perceived their patients disease condition as serious than in their counterparts. Also, the number of caregiver's physical symptom was significantly higher in caregivers whose patients have a paralysis sypmtom and the disease onset as accident than in caregivers whose patients have no paralysis symptom and the disease onset as spontaneous. 2. The average of caregiver's stress was 57.9. The caregiver's stress was the highest in between the ages of 50 and 59. There were also significantly higher level of stress in women, those of who perceived the disease condition of their patients as serious than in their counterparts. 3. The most common caregiver's physical symptom was fatigue(87.7%). This was followed by insomnia(58.5%) and muscle pain(47.7%). 4. Caregiver's physical sypmtom was positively correlated with caregiver's stress and negatively correlated with patient's activity of daily life. 5. The most important vairable affecting the caregiver's physical symtom was patient's activity of daily life which accounted for 12.7% of the total variance in stepwise multiple regression analysis. The most important vairable affecting the caregiver's stress was the patient disease condition perceived by the caregiver that accounted for 12.1% of the total variance.