Effect of Telenursing on the Quality of Life of Caregivers of Older Patients with Stroke

Abstract

Background: Family caregivers of stroke patients suffer from a high caregiving burden that affects their quality of life. Telenursing can provide caregivers and patients with services at the lowest cost and full access. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of telenursing on the quality of life of caregivers of older stroke patients. Methods: A total of 79 family caregivers of older stroke patients participated in this randomized clinical trial. The samples were selected from caregivers of older stroke patients admitted to a teaching hospital in Qazvin, Iran. They were randomly divided into two groups. The intervention group participated in an educational intervention for 12 weeks through telephone follow-up and social media. The Barthel Scale and the 36-item Short Form Survey (SF-36) were used for data collection. The chi-square and independent and paired t-tests were used to analyze the data. Results: The mean age of 79 caregivers participating in the study was 46.16 ± 11.32 years. No significant differences were found between the two groups at baseline. However, the independent t-test showed significant differences in the psychological subscale (p <0.001) between the intervention and control groups after the intervention. In addition, the results of the paired t-test showed significant improvements in the intervention group in physical (p <0.001) and psychological (p <0.001) subscales. Conclusion: The results of the current study support the effectiveness of telenursing in improving the quality of life of caregivers of older stroke patients.