ASSOCIATION OF LEVEL OF BURDEN AND QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG HOME-BASED THERAPISTS OF STROKE SURVIVORS

OBJECTIVES The incidence of stroke is high among the Pakistani population as compared to developed countries. Studies concluded that home based rehabilitation therapy increases the quality of life of survivors; however, it also increases the burden on rehabilitation therapists. Thus, this study aims to investigate the association between the level of burden and quality of the therapist's life to address health-related outcomes STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. STUDY SETTINGS & PARTICIPANTS Total numbers of 100 therapists working in home-based rehabilitation were selected through the non-probability sampling technique. The data was collected through the World Health Organization Quality Of Life (WHQoL) questionnaire and Zarit Burden Interview. RESULTS A total number of 150 participants enrolled in the study, which comprised of 50 males and 100 females with a mean age of 25.8±5.14 years, while 50 refused to participate. The results show no significant association between the level of burden and quality of life. On the WHOQoL scale, 39% of the participants showed moderate to severe level of burden, 21% had mild to moderate burden while 19% had a level of severe burden. CONCLUSION Home-based therapy for stroke survivors has shown beneficial impact by implementing client-centred practice, however it also increases the burden on the caretakers and therapy service providers. The participants of the recent study have an average quality of life and an increased level of burden therefore, further studies are required to address the healthcare needs of therapists working in a home-based setting to improve health outcomes of both the therapist and the patient.