The effects of an ability development program for caregivers of Cerebrovascular patients at Thapklo District, Phichit Province

Abstract

The objectives of this quasi-experimental research were: to compare the caring ability of cerebrovascular patients of experimental caregivers before and after receiving an Ability Development Program for Caregivers of Cerebrovascular Patients;  to compare the caring ability between the experimental and control caregivers after receiving the program; and to compare blood pressure between experimental and control  patients after receiving the program. The sample comprised  2 groups: (1) cerebrovascular patient caregivers who were the main caregivers at home and lived with patients; (2) cerebrovascular patients who attended at Khaosai and Ban Wang Daeng subdistrict  health promoting hospital and  live in Thapklo District,  Phichit Province. They were selected by purposive sampling technique as inclusion criteria to be experimental group (n=33) and control group (n=33) respectively. The experimental tool was  an Ability Development Program for Caregivers of Cerebrovascular Patients based on supportive and educative nursing system of Orem’s Self Care Theory. The collecting data tool was questionnaires with two parts: general data of caregivers and patients and caring ability of cerebrovascular patients. The reliability coefficient of part two was 0.91. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon signed- ranks test, and Mann-Whitney U test.  The results founded that: the experimental group caregivers had the caring ability of cerebrovascular patients after receiving the program significantly higher than before (p < .05). After receiving the program, the caring ability of cerebrovascular patients of experimental caregivers were significantly higher than control caregivers (p < .05).  After receiving the program, the systolic and diastolic blood pressure of  the experimental patients were significantly lower than control  patients (p < .05).