Poster Presentation
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
9:00 AM - 9:45 AM
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
2:45 PM - 3:30 PM
Supportive-educative needs among caregivers of traumatic brain injury patients
Meei-Fang Lou, RN, PhD, School of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| Learning Objective #1: understand 3 supportive-educative needs among caregivers of traumatic brain injury patients. |
| Learning Objective #2: understand the changes of perceived general health, social support and quality of life of caregivers from discharge to 3-month post-discharge. |
The occurrence of disabilities after brain injury is common, and resulting burdens on family caregivers. This is a 3-year study that is aimed at improving the psychological outcome for caregivers of traumatic brain injured patients. In this paper, the information for first year control group was presented. The goals were: (1) to understand the physical-psychological-behavioral-emotional problems of brain injured patients during hospital stay and 3 months after discharge, (2) to understand the health status of caregivers during hospital stay and 3 months after discharge, and (3) to understand the supportive-educative needs among caregivers. The following instruments were used for data collection: (1) Demographic characteristics, (2) Barthel Index and MMSE, and (3) Subjective caregiver distress, general health, social support, and quality of life. Data were collected in neuro-surgical units of a medical center on northern Taiwan. Interview and self-report questionnaire were used for data collection. All the measurements were assessed before hospital discharge and 3 months after discharge. Seventy-two brain injured patients and their primary caregivers were recruited to the control group. Wound condition and ambulation were the leading two patients’ problems before discharge. However, 3 months after discharge, the leading problems were emotional- behavioral, ambulation, nutrition, range of motion and pain. Among the 72 caregivers, the relationships with patients were daughter-in-law, sons, and parents. The caregivers’ health status decreased significantly from admission to discharge, and increased significantly from discharge to 3-month post-discharge (F = 30.24, p = 0.000). Caregivers’ perceived social support and general quality of life increased significantly from discharge to 3-month post-discharge (paired t = 3.20, 3.88, p = 0.002, p = 0.000, respectively). The results of the findings suggest intervention strategies for caregivers, such as nutritional assessment, pain assessment, behavioral modification, communication skill, stress management and support etc, to increase caregivers’ psychological outcome.