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Toward a model of quality of life for family caregivers of stroke survivors

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Abstract

The important role of family caregivers in maintaining their disabled and elderly members in the community is becoming increasingly recognized. Caregiver research, for the most part, has explored burden and emotional distress as outcomes of the caregiving experience. Although there is a growing consensus among health-care researchers concerning the importance of quality of life (QoL) as an outcome, there is little research examining QoL of family caregivers. The purpose of this paper, therefore, was to construct a conceptual framework from which to study the QoL of family caregivers of stroke survivors. Findings from a review of studies addressing the QoL of these caregivers guided the development of the model. The components of the model include the caregiving situation, characteristics of the caregiver, and environmental factors, and their proposed relationships with QoL. This model provides a framework for investigating how the caregiving experience impacts on the caregiver's QoL.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McGill University, Canada

    Carole L. White & Sharon Wood-Dauphinee

  2. School of Nursing, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Sylvie Lauzon

  3. Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, Canada

    Mark J. Yaffe

  4. School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Sharon Wood-Dauphinee

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  1. Carole L. White
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  2. Sylvie Lauzon
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  3. Mark J. Yaffe
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  4. Sharon Wood-Dauphinee
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White, C.L., Lauzon, S., Yaffe, M.J. et al. Toward a model of quality of life for family caregivers of stroke survivors. Qual Life Res 13, 625–638 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:QURE.0000021312.37592.4f

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:QURE.0000021312.37592.4f

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