Background
The important role of family caregivers in maintaining their family wellbeing of the patients with stroke in the community is becoming increasingly recognized. Most of the caregiver research has explored burden and emotional distress as outcomes of the caregiver. Family resilience helps family caregivers facing the consequences of adversity and stress can have a positive outcome.
Hypotheses/Research Questions
The purpose of the study was to develop and examine the effectiveness of the family resilience model in enhancing family resilience and the psychological wellbeing of family caregivers having a family member having stroke in the community.
Sample Characteristics and Sample Size
Data were collected at a home care institution in Taiwan. The sample consisted 64 family caregivers (30 experimental, 34 control group) who have a family member with stroke and discharge from the hospital during the last two weeks.
Design
This was a quasi-experimental design. Nurses provide enhancing family resilience interventions at two points: the initial stage while patients discharge from the hospital and at the 4-8 weeks after returning home. The Enhancing family resilience model included family assessment, strengthen family caregiver’s awareness of their needs, and providing education and counseling that strengthen their resilience. Data were collected using the demographical data form, the Brief Resilience scale (BRS), and the psychological wellbeing scale of family caregivers.
Results
The results of this study showed that the resilience scale and the psychological wellbeing scale were significantly different (p value=0.048*; p value=0.043*) between experimental groups and control groups.
Scientific Contribution
These results suggest that the family resilience model contributes to the improvement of the family resilience and psychological wellbeing of family caregivers of stroke patients.
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