EFFECT OF STROKE SEVERITY INDEX WITH FUNCTIONAL INDEPENDENCE ON CAREGIVERS BURDEN IN ACUTE STROKE PATIENTS.

Abstract

Greater number of stroke survivors suffer from disability and extended years of care is required to be undertaken by family members which adds burden to caregivers daily life. Thus burden on caregivers needs attention to study the impact of stroke .Till now, scarce literature is found to study the correlation of severity of stroke and burden on caregivers. This study was done to nd the correlation of severity of stroke with functional independence and also intends to nd the correlation of Functional dependency with the caregivers burden& severity of stroke with caregivers burden in acute stroke patients Patients admitted in the tertiary care hospital of metropolitan city in Maharashtra with the Acute stroke within 48 hours of onset were included in study , on 3rd day after stroke/admission to hospital. National Institutes Of Health Stroke Scale ( NIHSS), Barthel Index (BI), Burden Scale For Family Caregivers (BSFC), were used to gather information from 100 stroke patients admitted in hospital wards. Study showed strong negative correlation of -0.705 between NIHSS and BI, Barthel index correlation with caregiver burden score shows moderate negative correlation of – 0.482, NIH scale score correlation with caregiver burden score shows moderate positive correlation of 0.59. Thus stroke severity affects negatively on functional independence. caregivers have reported moderate burden due to dependance of patient. stroke severity has positive impact on caregivers burden. Further research in various stages of Stroke recovery on caregivers burden and functional independence level is recommended