Outcome of carer-assisted care for stroke survivors with severe disability: preliminary findings

Abstract

Involvement of informal carer in post-stroke care is important to prevent development of secondary complications particularly among stroke survivors with severe disability. However, to date, evidence on the benefit of stroke care training and involving carer to assist in the care for this group of stroke survivors is still limited. In this study, we evaluated the outcome of a carer-assisted care program for stroke survivors with severe disability who live at home. Sixteen stroke survivors with severe disability and 16 primary carers participated in this pre-test post-test intervention study. Carers were trained using a stroke care module which was developed by a group of multidisciplinary researchers from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, prior to implementing the daily care for 8 weeks. Outcome of care on stroke survivors was assessed in term of change in disability level and quality of life using Modified Barthel Index (MBI) and EuroQol health-state measure (EQ-5D and EQ-VAS), respectively. While outcome of stroke care training on carer was determined using Modified Caregiver Strain Index (MCSI). Significant improvement is shown in the stroke survivors’ EQ-VAS component of EuroQol health state measure (average increase by 12%, t = 2.86, p = 0.01) following the care. Although not statistically significant (t = 0.97; p = 0.35), the mean score of MCSI reduced by 14%. No significant change was found in the MBI of the stroke survivors at completion of the program. Carer-assisted care is useful in improving quality of life of stroke survivors and can potentially reduce stress level among carers. Larger study may assist in establishing these preliminary findings