London, United Kingdom 2013 Poster Session Nurses/AHP’s Cerebrovasc Dis 2013; 35 (suppl 3)1-854 215 2037 Stroke care problems Patterns of stroke caregiving within Thai families. A. Sukwatjanee1 Faculty of Nursing, Srinakharinwirot University, Nakonnayok, THAILAND1 Background: Stroke has been recognized as the disease burden among Thai people. Their impair-ments of communication and daily activities require assistance from caregivers. The caregivers gen-erally are family members of the stroke patient. In addition, caregiving within Thai families is based on culture and beliefs of caregivers. Given the limited information of their caregiving behaviors, this study sought to explore patterns of caregivers’ behaviors that influenced stroke caregiving within Thai families. Methods: A total of 40 participants who had provided care to the stroke patient were contacted to take part in the study. Data were obtained through use of the Barthel Index, demographic sheet, interviews and observations. The home health nurses and health care volunteers went to visit and interviewed the participants to obtain the demographic and Barthel Index, measuring activity of dai-ly living, data. Interviews and observations were also conducted at the stroke caregivers’ homes. Throughout the data gathering process, information was recorded in a tape recording and field notes. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the Barthel Index scores and demographic data. Qualita-tive data from interviews and observations were analyzed via content analysis. Results: The caregivers who had well communication skills were found to have effectively caregiv-ing. Female members of the stroke families who were unmarried and had a few job responsibilities were found to be the most involved in providing caregiving. The finances played an important part in caregiving in terms of paying bills for basic things. The satisfaction influenced how pleasurable of caregiving behavior. In addition, all participants were Buddhist, it is of great merit to pay respect to older parents and expect nothing in return. Conclusion: The patterns of stroke caregiving within Thai families were found to be influenced by the communication skills, demographic background, finances, satisfaction, and religious beliefs. The results of this study provide nurses with a better understanding of the caregiving patterns, espe-cially as it exists in Thai families. 2038 Stroke care problems ASSESSMENT OF NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF STROKE PATIENTS: PRELIMINARY RESULTS Z. Tulek1, S. Altin2, H. Kucukoglu3, S. Baybas4 Istanbul University Florence Nightingale School of Nursing, Istanbul, TURKEY1, Bakırkoy Mental Health and Neurology Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, TURKEY2, Bakırkoy Men-tal Health and Neurology Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, TURKEY3, Bakırkoy Mental Health and Neurology Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, TURKEY4 Aim: Stroke patients has a considerable risk of malnutrition and malnutrition may increase lenght of stay at hospital, complications and mortality. This study is part of a larger longitudinal research assessing nutritional status and its determinants in stroke patients, and preliminary results of patients attending to an outpatient clinic will be presented. Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study has been carried out in a mental and neurological hospital. 76 consecutive patients who attended to a stroke outpatient clinic with first time acute stroke were recruited and assessed by face to face interviews. Patients have been assessed by a form questioning sociodemographics, Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA-short form), Barthel index and modified Rankin Scale. For data analysis SPSS program (version 16.0) was used. Descriptive data, Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis and Spearman tests were used. All parameters which showed sig-nificance (p< 0.05) was entered into logistic regression analysis. Findings: Age of patients were 62.1 (SD 12.9, range 30-84). 60% of the patients were male with a low educational background, married and retired. They were living at home and with their family. Patients had stroke for 20.8 months, majority had ischemic stroke. Most of them were independent in activities of daily life (mean Barthel score 73.4) and ambulatory (mean Rankin score 2.2). Ac-cording to MNA scores 39.5% of the patients had risk of malnutrition. 27.6% had an involuntary weight loss, 17.1 had (mild) difficulty in swallowing and 19.7% reported that they needed a modi-fied consistency (puree like). 3.9% of the patients were supported by enteral supplements. In regres-sion analysis, rankin score, need for eating (determined by barthel), older age, shorter duration of stroke, having hypertension, higher number of concomitant disease and higher weight loss predicted malnutrition. Conclusions: Given a general finding of malnutritional state identified for these patients, there is scope for assessment (especially for patients who have a higher risk) and development of nutritional status for stroke patients.
Karger_ESC London_2013
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