Abstract
BACKGROUND: Stroke affects not only patients but also their caregivers. The level of readiness of caregivers to give care has a significant effect on the quality of life and recovery process of their patients. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the effects of caregiver readiness of individuals providing care for stroke patients on their caregiving burden and burnout. METHODS: This study was conducted with 69 individuals who gave care to inpatients receiving stroke treatment in the Neurology Clinic of a hospital between April 2022 and January 2023. Data collection was carried out using the Patient and Caregiver Identification Form, Cheltenham Patient Classification Scale (CPCS), Preparedness for Caregiving Scale (PCS), Bakas Caregiving Outcomes Scale (BCOS), and Burnout Measure (BM). In the comparisons of two independent groups, the Independent Samples t-test was used when numerical variables were normally distributed, and Mann Whitney U test was used when numerical variables were not normally distributed. In the comparisons of more than two independent groups, One-Way ANOVA was used when numerical variables were normally distributed, and Kruskal Wallis test was used when numerical variables were not normally distributed. Pearson Correlation test was used to analyze the relationship between the scores obtained from the scales. RESULTS: The analysis of the distribution of stroke patients according to the Cheltenham Patient Classification Scale revealed that 44.9% of them were in the Type 2 care group. The mean scores they obtained from the data collection tools were as follows: PCS: 22.20±6.98, BCOS: 54.46±11.80, BM: 2.73±1.33. CONCLUSION: There was a moderately significant negative relationship between the caregivers' BM and PCS scores. Their BM scores decreased as their PCS scores increased. On the other hand, there was a moderately significant positive correlation between their PCS and BCOS scores. As their PCS scores increased, so did their BCOS scores.