Care Dependency of Hospitalized Stroke Patients Based on Family Caregivers’ and Nurses’ Assessments: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Stroke impacts care dependency, and thus the patient needs home care after suffering a stroke. This study was carried out to investigate similarities and differences between the assessments made by family caregivers and nurses regarding the care dependency level of stroke patients in Indonesian hospitals. This study was a comparative study of the care dependency of stroke patients. Data were collected on the stroke wards on the day of admission using the Care Dependency Scale (CDS). The sample consisted of 118 family caregivers and 21 nurses. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was performed to determine the mean differences between the paired data collected by family caregivers and nurses. The results of this study show that significant differences exist between the family caregivers’ and nurses’ assessments regarding the care dependency levels of stroke patients. Nurses assigned higher scores to all CDS items than family caregivers did. Significant differences between the family caregivers’ and nurses’ assessments were observed on numerous items of the Care Dependency Scale. This study contributes to efforts to raise awareness of potential differences in perceived care dependency levels of stroke patients. The findings can help nurses plan the patient’s discharge together with family caregivers.