Risk factors for stress in children after parental stroke.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

To assess risk factors for stress in children 3 years after parental stroke.

PARTICIPANTS:

Questionnaires were filled in by 44 children aged 7-18 years, parents who suffered a stroke and healthy spouses from 29 families recruited in 9 participating rehabilitation centers across the Netherlands.

METHOD:

We measured patient functioning (cognitive disorders, communicative disorders and ADL dependency), parental depression and perceived quality of marital relationship at 4 assessments, from the start of rehabilitation until 3 years post-stroke. Children assessed their stress level 3 years after parental stroke.

RESULTS:

Girls experienced more stress than boys. Spouses' depressive symptoms during the first year after stroke were positively correlated with stress in children. Patients' depressive symptoms 2 months post-rehabilitation (2 months after discharge from the rehabilitation center), 1 year and 3 years post-stroke were also positively correlated with stress in children. The perceived quality of marital relationship decreased over time and at 2 months post-rehabilitation, it was related to stress in children. Stress was not related to patient gender and functioning.

CONCLUSIONS:

Early prediction of long-term stress in children after parental stroke may be most accurate on the basis of children's female gender and depressive symptoms of the patient.

• Authors: Dominik Sebastian Sieh, Anne Marie Meijer, Johanna M A Visser-Meily
• Journal: Rehabilitation psychology (Rehabil Psychol) Vol. 55 Issue 4 Pg. 391-7 (Nov 2010) ISSN: 1939-1544 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 21171798 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

Topics

• Activities of Daily Living (classification, psychology)
• Adolescent
• Checklist
• Child
• Child Behavior Disorders (diagnosis, psychology)
• Child of Impaired Parents (psychology)
• Cognition Disorders (psychology, rehabilitation)
• Communication Disorders (psychology, rehabilitation)
• Depressive Disorder (psychology, rehabilitation)
• Female
• Humans
• Longitudinal Studies
• Male
• Netherlands
• Parents (psychology)
• Prognosis
• Rehabilitation Centers
• Risk Factors
• Sex Factors
• Spouses (psychology)
• Statistics as Topic
• Stress, Psychological (psychology)
• Stroke (psychology)
• Stroke Rehabilitation
• Surveys and Questionnaires