Depression and quality of life among family caregivers of Stroke Survivors in Ghana: The role of social support

Introduction: Stroke is a concern for global health policymakers because surviving stroke negatively affects the survivors and their caregivers. A good proportion of its survivors are left to battle with residual functional impairments, who often require long-term support care from family members who are usually ill-prepared for their caregiving role. Thus, this study examined depression and quality of life (QOL) among family caregivers of stroke survivors and the role of social support. Methods: A sample of 50 caregivers and 50 noncaregivers were conveniently selected using a cross-sectional research design at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. Depression, QOL and social support were measured using Beck Depression Inventory-II, WHOQOL-BREF, and the Multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Multiple analyses of variance, independent t-test, and Pearson's r test were used to analyze data. Results: Caregivers of stroke patients reported higher levels of depression (M = 8.94, standard deviation [SD] = 5.34) than noncaregivers (M = 3.48, SD = 4.81) which was statistically significant at ρ < 0.05. Caregivers also reported poorer QOL (M = 79.52, SD = 12.04) compared to noncaregivers (M = 88.70, SD = 11.19) which was statistically significant at ρ < 0.05. There was a strong relationship between depression and QOL (r (48) = −0.66, ρ < 0.05), social support and depression (r (48) = −0.60, ρ < 0.05), social support and QOL (r (48) = 0.56, ρ < 0.05). Conclusion: Caregivers experienced significant depressive symptoms and low QOL than noncaregivers. There was a significant relationship between depression, quality of life, and social support.