Investigation on the Status and Determinants of Caregiver Burden on Caring for Patients with Chronic Wound

Objective: To investigate the caring burden and its determinants of primary informal caregiver of patients with chronic wound. Approach: A prospective cross-sectional study of 132 pairs of chronic wound care recipients and their informal caregivers was included. The characteristics of patients and their informal caregivers as well as caregiver burden assessment by the caregiver burden inventory (CBI) were measured. Single factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were carried out to explore the independent determinants of caregiver burden on caring for patients with chronic wound. Results: Most of the caregivers were female with mean age of 54.57 ± 13.35 years, and 58.3% of the caregivers were adult children. The mean CBI score was 34.21 ± 9.69 at a medium level. The following variables increased the CBI scores of caregivers: long caring time per day for patients, powerlessness status of patients, insufficient self-efficacy, and social support of caregivers, the model was able to explain 67.5% of variance in caregiver burden (F = 47.167, p = 0.000, R2 = 0.675, adjusted R2 = 0.660). Innovation: Caring burden of patients with chronic wound as a key consideration of patient-centered wound care has received relatively little attention. In this study we report the status of caring burden and reveal its determinants of primary informal caregiver of patients with chronic wound. Conclusion: Wound professionals are suggested to pay attention to the caregiver burden of patients with chronic wound and develop family-centered intervention support service system according to the determinants of caregiver burden to alleviate the caregiver burden.