Chonlakarn Songsri, Panthiracha Fuongtong and Narong Chankeaw
Boromarajonani College of Nursing, Thailand
Nong Khai Wattana Hospital, Thailand
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Prim Health Care
Chronic illness involved several situations to patients and their families for instance, complication, defect, high cost treatment includes the loss of death, its effect, impact, stress of their families. The study of stress and needs among caregivers of chronic disease patients was aimed to study stress and needs of caregivers who have been taking care of chronic disease patients, bed ridden type-3 patients, in Phon Phisai Community Hospital, Nong Khai province. This descriptive research was conducted in 107 caregivers purposively. Research instruments applied in the study included an assessment of stress and needs questionnaire which was a five-point Likert scale with 0.87 level of confidence. Data were analyzed in frequency, percentage, means and standard deviation. Most of the caregivers were females (78.50%), aged over 51 years old (47.70%) involved with agriculture (65.40%) with average income of less than 10,000 baht per month (65.40%). Most of them completed primary school (51.41%). They have been taking care of the patients for duration of 1-5 years (51.40%). Caregivers were found to be the patientsâ?? adult children (33.60%) and life partners (27.00%). It was observed that the participantsâ?? level of stress was relatively low (65.42%), while the rest were found to be stress at moderate (23.36%) and high level (11.21%). When examined the participantsâ?? needs, it was reported that overall needs was at moderate level (x=3.64, SD=0.80) with the following orders: information about medical/nursing treatments of the patients (x=3.78, SD=0.67); spiritual care (x=3.72, SD=0.68); managing illness-relate finances (x=3.54, SD=0.89) and home health care from health providers (x=3.53, SD=0.87). Interestingly, resting needs was found to be at the lowest level (x=3.09, SD=0.84). Caregivers of chronic disease patients should be visible. They should receive well support in all dimensions of health including physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being; particularly those who are getting degenerated with limited of income and education backgrounds. The results of the study can be applied to develop a counseling model for relatives and caregivers of chronic illness patients.
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