Formal Social Support for Caregivers of Elderly Stroke Survivors: A Narrative Synthesis

• Author / Creator

  Adzovie,Elom N

• Approximately 15 million people worldwide experience stroke annually, of which five million are left permanently disabled, creating a need for long term support from family and community services. This sudden, unplanned and unpredictable event can have a devastating effect on the mental and physical health of family caregivers. The experience of being a family caregiver, and caring for a person who has suffered and survived stroke is therefore particularly important to understand. Social support, both informal and formal, has been known to increase the resilience of stroke survivors and their caregivers assisting them to maintain good physical and mental health. This narrative synthesis examined the attributes of formal social support programs and their effects in the development of resilience in family caregivers. A broad search of databases of published qualitative and mixed methods studies was conducted. Critical Appraisal Skill Program (CASP) was used to critically appraise the studies. The narrative synthesis consists of four elements: 1) developing a theory; 2) developing a preliminary synthesis; 3) exploring relationships in the data; and 4) assessing the robustness of the synthesis. Eleven studies out of 169 articles met the inclusion criteria. Synthesis identified helpful attributes of support interventions as follows: convenience of delivery location, accessibility to and easy comprehensibility of information, face to face connection, learning with and from other caregivers as a group and individually, hands on training, and access to tailored care.  

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Social support
  • Resilience
  • Attributes
  • Caregivers

• Graduation date

  Fall 2016

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Nursing

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R33R0Q002

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.