The Effect of an Online Individual Counseling Program on the Adaptation of Stroke Caregivers

Abstract

Caregivers of stroke patients often encounter mental and physical issues, especially the caregivers who have never had experiences in taking care of them before. As a result, problems with incorrect adaptation could lead to patients receiving inappropriate care as well as themselves. Thus, this study used counseling to promote the ability to develop adaptive behavior of caregivers. It aimed at studying the effects of an online individual counseling program on the levels of caregiver’s adaptation. The objectives were 1) to compare the effects of the program on the levels of caregiver’s adaptation at pre-experimental and post-experimental periods 2) to compare the effects of the program at the post- experimental period between the experimental group and the control group. The samples in this study were 10 caregivers of stroke patients who received services in Occupational Therapy Department at Sirindhorn National Medical Rehabilitation Institute. They were divided into 2 groups: a control group and an experimental group with the use of purposive method and quasi-experimental research design. A two-group experiment was conducted to measure results before and after receiving the counseling program. The research instruments consisted of 1) the counseling program take place eight weeks (1 days in each week/60 minutes per session). 2) an adaptive behavior scale for caregivers. Data were analyzed using descriptive and reference statistics. The result showed that the mean of the level of caregiver’s adaptation in the experimental group after receiving the counseling program had increased from 2.18 to 3.85 at statistically significant level of .05 (Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test: p-value 0.043). The mean of caregiver’s adaptation of the control group (before and after) in the experiment period had increased 0.12 and experimental group increased 1.67. There was a significant between-group difference in the level of adaptative behavior in the experimental group over the control group at statistically significant level of .05 (Mann-Whitney Test: p-value 0.009). Therefore, this study indicated that an online individual counseling program could promote and develop adaptation of stroke caregivers.