Aileen L. Bergström, Lena von Koch, Magnus Andersson, Kerstin Tham, Gunilla Eriksson
Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Occupational Therapy, Karolinska Institutet, Alfred Nobels allé 23, SE-141 83 Huddinge, Sweden. E-mail: aileen.bergstrom@ki.se
DOI: 10.2340/16501977-1964

Objective: To explore and describe persons with stroke and their caregivers’ restrictions in participation in everyday occupations, i. e. occupational gaps, 3–6 months post-stroke, in relation to life satisfaction, combined life satisfaction, care-giver burden, perceived impact of stroke, and activities of daily living.
Design: Cross-sectional study.
Subjects: Persons with stroke and their caregivers (105 dyads).
Methods: The Occupational Gaps Questionnaire, Life Satisfaction Checklist, Caregiver Burden Scale, Stroke Impact Scale and Barthel Index were used. Correlations were analysed with Spearman’s rank, and regression analyses used life satisfaction as the dependent variable.
Results: At least one person in 86% of the dyads perceived restrictions in participation, with the most common gap in travelling for pleasure. Correlations were low between the numbers of occupational gaps and life satisfaction (R = –0. 33, R = –0. 31); however, life satisfaction accounted for occupational gaps both for persons with stroke and for caregivers. A greater number of occupational gaps were perceived in the dyads with combined low levels of life satisfaction compared with those with combined high levels of life satisfaction.
Conclusion: Participation in everyday occupations is related to life satisfaction even for caregivers of persons with stroke. The results of this study add to our knowledge about the stroke-caregiver dyad and will help to inform family-centred approaches within stroke rehabilitation.