Changes over time in caregiving demand and difficulty in spousal caregivers of coronary artery bypass graft surgery patients.
Bernice C Yates, Esther O Park, Amanda Hug and 2 others
PMID 29422141WHAT IT FOUND
Spousal caregivers of heart bypass patients found caregiving hardest early, especially social support, behavior problems, household tasks, symptom monitoring, and transportation.
Demand and difficulty eased over six months, but finances became a top difficulty later.
Key findings
01Caregiving demand scores declined over time, including baseline to 3 months, baseline to 6 months, and 3 to 6 months.
02Caregiving difficulty scores declined from baseline to 6 months.
03Across all time points, top demands and difficulties were social support, behavior problems, added household tasks, and symptom monitoring; transportation ranked early and finances later.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 34 caregivers were studied. The sample was mostly Caucasian women and came from a mid-western academic medical center and a community hospital, so it may not apply to more diverse families. The study was a secondary analysis and combined intervention and control groups, so it describes change over time rather than the effect of cardiac rehabilitation. Sample size was determined by budgetary constraints and feasibility.
Declared interests
Publication types list NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support. The supplied text does not report author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the decline in caregiver burden as proof that cardiac rehabilitation reduced it. The analysis combined intervention and control groups because their caregiving scores did not differ, so it describes time change, not an effect of treatment.