NEURO PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND ROLE OF FAMILY SUPPORT IN IMPROVEMENT OF THE STROKE PATIENT

Abstract

The present study was carried Ollt to examine the impact C!ffamily support and fClll1i lyattitllde on improvement o/lleump.sychological impairment q/stroke patients. The stlldy also in vestigated the extellt qf relati ve improvement in the nellropsychological impairment C!f stroke patients of d!iferent sex, age, edllcational qllallf/cations and socioeconomic levels. The study was carried out in two phases, phase i including two sllb studies (i. e., slll'vey & p ilot stlldy) and phase 2(i.e., main stlldy). In phase J, a sllrvey was condllcted on a sample C!f 30 stl'Oke inpatienfs or visiting the hospital as out door patients, and their 30 care gil'ers to ident!/j; the area q/ problems related to stroke patients, type C!/SIlPPOl't and attitllde extended by theil' family members. interviews with nellro-physicians, physiothempists and related litemtllre review also help ed in establishing the dimensions of the scales. In the pilot stlldy three indigenous scales including Neurop.sychological Impairment Scale (NSI) , Family SlIpport Scale (FS) , and Family Attitude Scale (FA) II 'ere de veloped to assess physical, cognitive and p.sychological pl'Oblemsfaced by the stmke patients alld attitude atld slIpport extended by the fami ly members. Psychometric pl'Operties C!f these scales were tested on a random sample C!f -10 stroke inpatients and their caregivers (both male & female stl'Oke patients were taken / i'om civil & mi/itCllY h().\jJitals qfRawalpilldi, Lahore & PeshawCll)' Phase 2 sample consisted (d' 50 patients randomly drawn /i'om the pop1llation qf admitted (male &female) stroke patients in civil and militClly ho.spitals C!fRawalpindi. A sample C!f 50family members (?/ the stmke patients were inclllded to assess their attitude towards the patient. In the main study the neul'Opsychological impairment C!/ stroke patients and fam ily support and attitude were assessed with the help q/ these scales. The re.mlts indicated nellropsychological illlpairment qfstroke patients on theflrst administration in the hospital and an observable imlJ/'(}\Jement [[fiel' one month stay at home on the second administration q/ Nelll'Op::;ych%gi<.;ol Impairment Scale. The l'esllits indicated thatfamily sllpport was a cm cial factor ill the improvement q/ the patient, whereas, the fam ily attitllde shOlved no effect, whereas, fam ily slIpport alldfamily attit//de l·vere positively related The resllits also indicated that higher socio-econol17ic stat liS and edllcational level of the patients lfiere of cOllsidemble sign!ficallce ill the ovemll impl'Ovement of the patient, but they had no relatiullship to family slIpport alldfal17ily attitllde. The resllits showed l'io gender differences 'illfamily slIpport andfamily altitllde. However, older age \Vas negatively related with illlp/'()\!ement as \IIell as wilh family slIpport and fam ily attitllde as compared to YOllnger age.