The readiness of family in treating post-stroke patients at home: A literature review

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Abstract

Objective

The aims of this systematic review are to review studies on the patient's family readiness in caring for stroke patients at home, the instruments used to assess family readiness and the factors that influence family readiness.

Methods

The method used is an electronic database that has been published through PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Wiley online library. The keywords used for article searching is based on the study question.

Results

The review of six research articles stated that family readiness in stroke patients is essential to note that the instrument most often used in family preparedness assessments is the Preparedness Caregiver Scale (PCS) instrument. Factors that influence family readiness include Pre-stroke caregiver experience, the strength of caregiver relationships with patients, family understanding and involvement in care, caregiver roles and responsibilities.

Conclusion

Family preparedness assessment is critical to note especially for health workers, and the selection of the right instruments will significantly affect the caregiver's family readiness in treating stroke patients at home.

Introduction

Stroke causes functional disorders that make patients become paralyzed and often attacks patients who are old adults. Every year the incidence of stroke in the world reaches more than seven hundred thousand people consisting of new and recurrent strokes.1 Stroke is a cause of death, which become the third ranks in developed countries and the second ranks in developing countries.2 In the United States, nearly five million people have a disability due to stroke3 and are the fourth leading cause of death in men and the third ranks of most frequently in women in England and Wales.4 In Indonesia, the incidence of stroke from 2013 to 2018 has increased to almost 4% of the previous number of 7% in 2013 and almost 11% in 2018.5

Stroke is a leading cause of disability and causes emotional problems that need help for everyday life.1, 6 The people who play an essential role in providing care is family.7 Families are required to be able to help patients’ healing programs, but they often feel unprepared for their new roles.8 Changes in the role of the family can cause an increase in errors in care, treatments that are not suitable for stroke patients, even an increased risk for admission of patients to the hospital also has a negative effect on caregivers who can impact on the patient's healing program.9 Families who are not prepared to treat stroke patients are reported to often experience fatigue, depression, and stress due to lack of information provided by health workers in hospitals that are involved in the healing process.1

Several studies related to the readiness of the patient's family in treating stroke patients at home have been conducted. This is an effort to reduce the burden and stress on the family and will undoubtedly have a positive effect on the healing process of patients after stroke. However, information is still minimal regarding family readiness in treating patients at home. Therefore, this literature review aims to identify the available instrument to measure the readiness of family in providing care for patients, and how the readiness of family in providing care for post-stroke patients in their homes.

Section snippets

Methods

The keywords for article searching were identified based on the study question. The keywords consist of stroke; caregiver; family; preparedness; readiness or combination of the keywords using Boolean.

PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Wiley Online Library were searched for relevant studies in exploring the readiness of family in treating post-stroke patients at home.

Results

Following the article inclusion criteria identified in the search as many as 236 articles. Then the articles were filtered in the last five years and were complete articles of 15. Then screen out the duplicate articles as many as 6, and articles that were relevant to the purpose of the study were as many as five articles. Of the six articles reviewed, most were carried out in the United States, namely four articles and two other articles were conducted in the Netherlands and Italy. From the six

Discussion

From six research articles, there are three articles that emphasize that the instrument most often used in evaluating family readiness is the Preparedness Caregiver Scale (PCS) instrument. Pucciarelli et al. explained that PCS is a tool used to assess family perceptions of the role of readiness in caring for stroke patients at home.11 The article by Stone et al. Explains that the use of the PCS scale can significantly increase the family's readiness for patient care.12 While the article

Conclusion

Family readiness in caring for patients is a significant indicator to be considered by health workers. The most commonly used instrument is the Preparedness Caregiver Scale (PCS). This instrument can identify things that need to be given before the patient and family go home so that the family's readiness becomes more optimal. Various countries conduct research related to family preparedness in treating stroke patients, and this is in the spotlight of health workers. Therefore, it is essential

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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    • Development of video-based education for caregiver of post-stroke patients to prevent the complications of bed rest at home: A Delphi study

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      Citation Excerpt :

      But in post-stroke condition, most of the daily activities were helped or performed by the caregiver. Therefore, controlling risk factors is essential and cannot be separated from the role of a caregiver.6 This is in line with the Health Promotion Model (HPM) nursing theory which aims to move the community to reach better health status.7

    Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Women and Societal Perspective on Quality of Life (WOSQUAL-2019). Full-text and the content of it is under responsibility of authors of the article.

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