Authors (including presenting author) :
Liu YT, Ip WM, Choy PC, Li KL, Wong WS, Yau CY, Lam KF, Chan YY, Lau M, Yue SY
Affiliation :
Department of Occupational Therapy, Shatin Hospital
Introduction :
Due to abrupt onset and high disability of stroke, stroke caregivers often feel unprepared and stressed on adaptation of their immediate and new caregiving role (Pont et al., 2018). In order to alleviate and prevent the detrimental long term impact of caregiver burden, e.g. emotional problems, high mortality rate and hospital readmission, CEP aims to equip caregivers with the requisite knowledge and skills, so as to empower our caregivers with increased readiness, confidence and mastery on emerging caregiving role. All these act as protective factors to protect caregivers against negative emotions and strain caused by caregiver burden during the home care preparation (Fortinsky, Kercher & Burant, 2002). CEP consists of 5 domains: (1) Activities of daily living caring skills (2) assistive aids usage (3) community resources (4) transportation access and (5) psychological preparation. Being implementing at the correct timing (Lutz et al., 2017), followed by interactive and group-based learning, also multiple learning materials (Cameron, 2013), CEP serves our patients and their caregivers as good facilitator for successful care transition from hospital to home.
Objectives :
(1) To improve stroke caregivers' preparedness and competence in taking patients home on discharge
(2) To reduce stroke caregivers' psychological distress, as long as caregiving burden
Methodology :
A one group pre- and post-test design was employed. Subjects were (1) stroke caregivers (2) planned to bring stroke survivors home (3) taking care of stroke patients with marked functional decline and require moderate assistance. Eligible stroke caregivers were invited by Occupational Therapists to a 4-hour programme, which was held on a biweekly basis. Pre and Post data were obtained in terms of caregivers' preparedness, competence level and psychological distress level.
Result & Outcome :
A total of 11 family units were successfully enrolled into the CEP from Nov, 2018 to Feb, 2019. Result shows that there is a statistically significant improvement in stroke caregiver’s preparedness (p< 0.05), competence (p< 0.001) and reduction in emotional distress (p< 0.001) on home-caregiving immediately after the CEP. To conclude, CEP effectively enhances stroke caregiver’s readiness, competence level, and reduces their psychological distress, as long as caregiving burden. It is a potential effective intervention in facilitating a good care transition from hospital to home.
