Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (Dec 2022)
Family Functioning is Associated with Post-Stroke Depression in First-Ever Stroke Survivors: A Longitudinal Study
Abstract
Xiao Wang,1,* Cai-Xia Hu,2,* Man-Qiu Lin,2 Shu-Ying Liu,2 Fen-Yan Zhu,3 Li-Hong Wan1 1School of Nursing, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Neurology, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Li-Hong Wan, School of Nursing, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Road II, Guangzhou, 510080, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 18926179419, Fax +86 020-87333043, Email [email protected]: Post-stroke depression (PSD) can aggravate the mortality and recurrence rate in stroke patients. The relationship between family functioning and PSD at different phases after a first-ever stroke is unclear. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate the patterns and relationship of family functioning and PSD at acute hospitalization and 6 months post-discharge in first-ever stroke survivors.Methods: This is a longitudinal study conducted in Guangzhou, China. Family functioning and depression were measured by the Short Form Family Assessment Device (SF-FAD) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) at baseline and 6 months post-discharge. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between family functioning and PSD.Results: The prevalence of PSD at acute hospitalization and 6 months post-discharge was 32.9% and 20.0%, respectively. SDS scores decreased significantly from baseline to 6 months post-discharge, while SF-FAD scores did not change significantly during this period. The Pearson correlation coefficient showed that SF-FAD scores were positively associated with SDS scores at the two time points (r1 = 0.341, r2 = 0.510, P < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that SF-FAD scores could predict PSD at baseline (unstandardized coefficient: 7.010, P < 0.05) and 6 months post-discharge (unstandardized coefficient: 9.672, P < 0.001).Conclusion: This study found that first-ever stroke survivors had good family functioning at baseline and 6 months post-discharge. The findings in this study verified that poor family functioning is positively associated with PSD at different phases post-stroke. Good family functioning is an important protective factor against PSD.Keywords: family functioning, depression, stroke
