RESUMO
Objective To study the correlation between psychological state and coping styles of primary caregivers of stroke patients.Method 286 primary caregivers were screened out by the random sampling method for the investigation of their psychological states and coping styles using SCL-90 and the medical coping modes questionnaire(MCMQ).Results There were significant differences between primary caregivers and Chinese norm in terms of all factors(P<0.01).The major caregivers with higher education were scored significantly lower than those with less education on the factors of depression,anxiety,hostility,fear,psychoticism (P<0.01).There were significant different differences between primary caregivers and Chinese norm in coping style(P<0.01): the score on confrontation in the coping style lower than the norm while the score on avoidance in the coping style higher than in norm.The confrontation and avoidance in the primary caregivers were negatively correlated to the factors of SCL-90(P<0.05)and yielding in the coping style positively to the factors of SCL-90(P<0.05).Conclusions The primary caregivers of stroke patients are at the poor psychological states and they tend to take the passive and negative coping styles.The more they take active coping style,the better their mental states grow and vise versa.Therefore,the caregivers need professional training so that they can use the supports from their families and be encouraged to speak out their poor moods.Post-discharge visits to them,besides,are helpful for the improved psychological states for the improvement of their quality of life.