THE EFFECT OF HOME CARE EDUCATION TO CAREGIVERS ON DEPRESSION AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN STROKE PATIENTS IN IMAM KHOMEINI EDUCATIONAL AND TREATMENT CENTER, URMIA, 2019-2020

Stroke can lead to post-stroke depression, which has severe negative effects on the quality of life of the patients. Post-stroke depression and quality of life may have interactions with each other. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of home care education to caregivers on depression and quality of life in stroke patients in Imam Khomeini educational and treatment center, Urmia, 2019-2020.

The present study is a clinical trial in which a pre-test and post-test design with a control and test group was used. The sample size was 66 eligible patients who were randomly divided into two equal groups of intervention and control. The demographic information form of patients and their caregivers was completed by reviewing the records and interviews, and all the subjectsunderwent a pre-test to assess depression and quality of life using the Beck Depression Inventory (Second Edition) and the stroke-specific quality of life questionnaire. The intervention included conducting home care training for caregivers in four 60-minute sessions, once a week by the researcher at the patientschr('39') home by face-to-face method, with discussions and questions. Post-test was performed one month after the intervention in the intervention and control groups to assess depression and quality of life using previous questionnaires.

The findings showed that before the intervention, the two groups did not have a statistically significant difference (p = 0.981), but after the intervention, the two groups had a statistically significant difference in depression scores. In the intervention group, depression score decreased from 39.45 before the intervention to 22.52 after the intervention (p <0.001), while in the control group, this trend was almost unchanged and constant. The results also showed that before the intervention the two groups did not have a statistically significant difference in the quality of life score (p = 0.471) but the two groups had a statistically significant difference after the intervention in quality of life scores. The quality of life score in the intervention group increased from 118.58 before the intervention to the 183.97 after the intervention (p <0.001), while this trend remained almost unchanged in the control group.

Based on the findings of the present study, home care training for caregivers is effective in reducing depression and improving the quality of life in stroke patients.