While caring for stroke survivors can be highly stressful for some families, many families feel little or no strain from caregiving, and even report that being a caregiver can be personally rewarding, according to research published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

In a study of 75 stroke caregivers:
90 percent reported that caregiving enabled them to appreciate life more;

44 percent reported “no strain;” and

41 percent reported “some strain.”
Furthermore, average depression scores were well below depressive symptom levels typically reported in similar studies recruited from clinical settings, researchers said.

The findings came from a population-based study of the stroke care experience that the authors said includes caregivers who may be coping well and who may not seek out professional assistance.

“Epidemiologically based studies of stroke caregiving provide a unique picture of caregiver strains and benefits compared with clinical studies, which tend to over-represent more impaired patients,” said William E. Haley, Ph.D., lead author of the study and professor at the School of Aging Studies of the University of South Florida, Tampa.

Researchers studied 75 people caring for stroke survivors enrolled in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, an epidemiologic investigation of stroke incidence and mortality including a large, racially diverse national sample of adults over age 45. They gathered caregiver reports of the prevalence and stressfulness of patient impairments through an ancillary project, the Caring for Adults Recovering from the Effects of Stroke (CARES) study. Both REGARDS and CARES are based at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
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