Family Issues in Neurorehabilitation

Despite modern society's advancement in health care, family members remain the primary long term caregivers of individuals with chronic disease and disability. Recently, there has been growing interest in difficulties families experience providing care for a person with a brain injury. Because family members play a critical role in the long-term neurorehabilitation, reducing family members' careburden is very important for a patient as well as their family members. Therefore, understanding about family issues in neurorehabilitaiotn is necessary for health professionals who meet and treat them. This study investigated what is the most common issue which family members of neurorehabilitation patients, using the checklist about difficulties of family experience after a brain injury. The family members of 111 neurorehabilitation inpatients reported their experience about difficulties of caring patients. Five major family issues in neurorehabilitation are needs of clear explanation of the patient's condition and prognosis, financial problem, fear of recurrence, needs of information about social services and needs of information about community resource. Social isolation, frustration due to decreased personal time, increased stress and decreased quality of life, patient's poor motivation of treatment, patient's changed personality, adjustment problem after discharged from hospital are also family concerned about. Interventions designed to meet family caregivers' needs in these issues should be implemented. Recommendations for family support services are offered.

Effects of Group Education Program for the Families of Stroke Patients in Psycho-social Aspect

OBJECTIVE: This paper was designed to develope a group program for the families of stroke patients and examined the effects of the program on mental health, stress coping, and social support of the family caregivers. METHOD: The subjects of this study were 28 family members of stroke patients who had participated in group education program. The program was composed of eight sessions. The aim of this study was to increase understanding of the nature of stroke and treatment procedures, and to enhance family caregivers' ability to take care of patients, and to reduce family caregivers' burden. The program team members included social workers, medical doctors, and nutritionists. The data was analyzed using Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. RESULTS: There were significant differences in all three areas between pre and post groups (p<0.001). It means the program will help the participants improve mental health state, enhance stress coping skills and improve the perception of social support. CONCLUSION: A formalized group education program is an important resource in helping family members understand the stroke and their ability to cope with the rehabilitation process. Since family members provide a critical role in the long-term rehabilitation, family group education should be an essential part in the rehabilitation program.