Stress and Coping for Patients with Hemiplegia during the Rehabilitation Process

편마비 환자의 재활과정에 따른 스트레스와 대처의 변화양상

It is important to understand that patients with hemiplegia are under stress during the rehabilitation process. This study was designed to determine what changes occur in the stress perceived by these patients during the rehabilitation process. and what changes occur in the ways they coped with stress. A decriptive study with a longitudinal design was conducted. A total of 57 patients with hemiplegia who were admitted to one general hospital made up the sample for this study. A questionnaire, observations and interviews were used for the data collection which was done in three phases(within one week after admission : within one week before discharge ; within one month after discharge ). Data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA repeated measures of ANOVA, and post hoc paired t -test, Bonferroni correction. The results of this study are : 1. Changes in the perception of stress during the rehabilitation process : There was a statistically significant differencs in the perception of stress among these patients during the rehabilitation process. On the post-hoc test. the perception of stress showed a statistically significant decrease from admission to discharge. The perception of psychological stress was high during the rehabilitation process as compared with the perception of physical and social stress. 2. Changes in the way the patients coped during the rehabilitation process : On admission passive coping was used by most of the subjects(91.2％). Passive coping showed an decrease from admission to discharge, but an increase from discharge to follow-up at one month post discharge. There was, however, no statistically significant changes in the way the patients coped during the rehabilitation process. 3. Changes in perception of stress during the rehabilitation process according to variables. Perception of stress among patients classified as So-Um was higher during the rehabilitation process, when compared with patients classified as So- Yang and Tae-Um. There was, however, no statistically significant difference in perception of stress over time. The patients with right sided paralysis perceived higher stress than those with left sided paralysis. There was, however, no statistically significant difference in perception of stress over time. Hence, stress was not influenced by which side was paralyzed th frequency of the relapse of the disease, or the time in the rehabilitation process. 4. Changes in coping during the rehabilitation process according to variables. There was a statistically significant difference in the way the patients coped at follow- up according to the three different kinds of the constitution groups. In other words, coping was not used by patients classified as Tae-Um but was used by those classified as So-Um. On the repeated measures of ANOVA, there was a statstically significant difference in stress over time, and an interaction between constitution and time. But the way of coping during the rehabilitation process was not influenced by which side was paralyzed nor by the frequency of the relapse of the disease. In conclusion, perception of psychological stress was high during the rehabilitation process, as compared to perception of physical and social stress. There was a statistcally significant difference in the perception of stress over time, Perception of stress showed a gradual decrease from over admission to follow-up period. There was. however, no statistically significant difference in the way of coping over time. Passive coping was used by most of patients. In the study, these findings suggest a need for nursing care related to the psychological support for patients with hemiplegia both in the hospital as well as at home, and the need for education and counseling on independent self-care to help the hemiplegic patients adapt to stress using active coping.