Factors associated with suicidal ideation in caregivers of stroke survivors

• Main Authors: Tatiana Ferreira da Costa, Thaíse Alves Bezerra, Cláudia Jeane Lopes Pimenta, Cleane Rosa Ribeiro da Silva, Gerlania Rodrigues Salviano Ferreira, Kátia Neyla de Freitas Macedo Costa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal do Ceará 2020-02-01
• Series: Rev Rene
• Subjects: caregivers; anxiety; depression; stress
• Online Access: http://periodicos.ufc.br/rene/article/view/42171/99994

Objective: to identify factors associated with the presence of suicidal ideation in caregivers of stroke survivors. Methods: cross-sectional survey conducted with 151 primary informal caregivers. The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 and a questionnaire were used to evaluate the presence of thoughts of suicidal ideation, whose data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: most caregivers had normal levels of depression (76.8%), anxiety (76.2%) and stress (79.5%), and showed no thoughts of suicidal ideation (70.9%). The correlation between scales showed that thoughts of suicidal ideation rise proportionally to the increase of anxiety, depression and stress levels. Conclusion: it was observed that high levels of depression, anxiety and stress favored the increased frequency of suicidal thoughts among caregivers of stroke survivors.