Predicting factors of post-stroke depression were investigated. The subjects were 254 stroke patients who had been discharged and visited regularly the outpatient clinic for follow up care. The influencing factors were classified into five categories: demographic, disease-related, current state, social support, and illness intrusiveness. Sex, age, job, and educational level were defined as the demographic factor. The disease-related factors included stroke type, illness duration, attack frequency, and NIH score. ADL, cognitive function, and social activity were considered as the current state factors. The social support was measured as the perceived amount of social support. Illness intrusiveness means the perceived illness induced life style disruptions. Demographic, disease-related, current state, and social support were hypothesized to directly and indirectly affect post-stroke depression through illness intrusiveness. The illness intrusiveness was hypothesized to directly affect post-stroke depression. The hierarchial multiple regression was used to identify significant factors. The result showed that this model explained 43.3% of variance of post-stroke depression. And the prevalence of post-stroke depression was 38.8%. Among the demographic factors, job was identified as a main contributor to indirectly increase the post-stroke depression. Among the disease-related factors, stroke type, attack frequency, and NIH score were found to indirectly affect the post-stroke depression. Among the current state factors, ADL and social activity indirectly affected the post-stroke depression through illness intrusiveness. Social support and illness intrusiveness were identified to directly affect the post-stroke depression. This study has proved the factors likely to be implicated in the development of post-stroke depression. Based upon these results, it is recommended that the nurses who take care of post-stroke patients consider the risk factors such as social support, illness intrusiveness et al. Also programs which decrease the illness intrusiveness and increase the social support to reduce post-stoke depression recommended to be developed.
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