Abstract
Objective
To describe caregiver burden according to the caregivers’ general characteristics, especially with ageing, and type of care activities provided by caregivers of individuals with spinal cord injury.
Design
A cross-sectional study was conducted utilizing a structured questionnaire that included general characteristics, health conditions, and caregiver burden.
Setting
A single center study in Seoul, Korea.
Subjects
Participants were recruited from 87 individuals with spinal cord injuries and 87 caregivers.
Methods
The Caregiver Burden Inventory was used to assess caregiver burden.
Results
Caregiver burden was significantly different by age (p = 0.001), relationship (p = 0.025), sleep hours (p = <0.001), underlying disease (p = 0.018), pain (p = <0.001), and daily activities of individuals with spinal cord injury (p = 0.001). Caregiver’s age (B = 0.339, p = 0.049), sleep duration (B = −2.896, p = 0.012) and pain (B = 2.558, p < 0.001) predicted caregiver burden. Toileting assistance was the most challenging and time-consuming for caregivers, while patient transfer was associated with the greatest concerns for body injury.
Conclusion
Caregiver education should be targeted according to caregiver’s age and type of assistance. Social policies need to be developed to distribute devices and care-robots to reduce caregiver burden and thereby assist caregivers.
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Data availability
Additional data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Funding
This work was funded by grants from Translational Research Program for Care Robots (HK19C0002), National Rehabilitation Center, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea.
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SHK was responsible for conducting the search, extracting and analyzing data, and creating tables and figures. OYK was responsible for designing the study, updating reference lists and screening potentially eligible studies. All authors (SHK, OYK, BSL, WKS, JEH, YHB and DIC) were responsible for writing the protocol and report, interpreting results, approving the final version of the manuscript.
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Kim, SH., Kim, O., Bae, YH. et al. Caregiver burden according to ageing and type of care activity in caregivers of individuals with spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord Ser Cases 9, 16 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41394-023-00570-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41394-023-00570-w
