Burden among care-givers of kidney transplant recipient and its associated factors

Abstract EN

Burden among care-givers of chronically ill patients has been widely investigated.

However, there is no study evaluating perceived pressure on care-givers of kidney transplant recipients.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of care-giving to renal transplant recipients in Iranian Muslim population and to analyze factors associated with it.

A cross-sectional study was carried out involving 41 care-givers of renal recipients.

The Care-giver Burden Scale (CB Scale) was used to evaluate the care-giver's perceived burden and its correlates.

Statistical analysis was performed using software SPSS v.13.0.

P < 0.05 was considered significant.

We found that increased care-giver burden was related to being married (p< 0.02), having lower education level (p< 0.05), and being a parent or spouse to the patient (p< 0.05).

We also found significant adverse effects of patients' second transplantation and gender (male) on care-givers' burden.

There was no significant relationship between care-giver burden score and patients' marital status, education level, operation time, age, donor type (cadaveric or living), and dialysis history before and after transplantation.

In conclusion, care-givers experience strain, which has implications for research and service provision.

Service providers need to identify those care-givers at risk of greater strain and help them in situations that cannot be altered.

Future research should be conducted to identify the effects of interventions, on care-givers' burden perception