Fear of disease progression and resilience parallelly mediated the effect of post‐stroke fatigue on post‐stroke depression: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract Aims To explore the effect of post‐stroke fatigue (PSF) on post‐stroke depression (PSD) and examine the mediating effects of fear of disease progression (FOP) and resilience between PSF and PSD. Design A cross‐sectional study. Methods A total of 315 stroke patients participated in the questionnaire survey between November 2022 and June 2023. Data were collected using the General Information Questionnaire, Fatigue Severity Scale, Fear of Disease Progression Questionnaire‐Short Form, Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale‐10 Item and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale‐Depression Subscale. Data were analysed by descriptive analysis, Mann–Whitney U ‐test, Kruskal–Wallis H ‐test, Pearson or Spearman correlation, hierarchical regression analysis and mediation analysis. Results PSF had a significant positive total effect on PSD ( β = .354, 95% CI: .251, .454). Additionally, FOP and resilience played a partial parallel‐mediating role in the relationship between PSF and PSD ( β = .202, 95% CI: .140, .265), and the total indirect effect accounted for 57.06% of the total effect. Conclusions FOP and resilience parallelly mediated the effect of PSF on PSD, which may provide a novel perspective for healthcare professionals in preventing PSD. Targeted interventions aiming at reducing PSF, lowering FOP levels and enhancing resilience may be possible ways to alleviate PSD. Implications for the Profession and Patient Care Interventions that tail to reducing PSF, lowering FOP levels and enhancing resilience may be considered as possible ways to alleviate PSD. Impact This study enriched the literature by exploring the effect of PSF on PSD and further examining the mediating effects of FOP and resilience between PSF and PSD. Findings emphasized the important effects of PSF, FOP and resilience on PSD. Reporting Method The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist for cross‐sectional studies was used to guide reporting. Patient or Public Contribution One tertiary hospital assisted participants recruitment.