Caregiver characteristics
| Characteristics | Total | ‘"Continuously-Employed" | "Employed-Unemployed" | P values |
| Participants, n (%) | 193 (100) | 145 (75.1) | 48 (24.9) | |
| Age (years), mean (SD) | 53.6 (12.1) | 52.5 (11.6) | 56.9 (13.0) | 0.028* |
| Sex, n (%) | 0.001*** | |||
| Male | 41 (21.2) | 22 (15.2) | 19 (39.6) | |
| Female | 152 (78.8) | 123 (84.8) | 29 (60.4) | |
| Education, n (%) | 0.531 | |||
| None | 8 (4.1) | 5 (3.4) | 3 (6.2) | |
| Primary education | 22 (11.4) | 15 (10.3) | 7 (14.6) | |
| Middle school education | 28 (14.5) | 20 (13.8) | 8 (16.7) | |
| High school education | 84 (43.5) | 68 (46.9) | 16 (33.3) | |
| University education | 51 (26.4) | 37 (25.5) | 14 (29.2) | |
| Marital status, n (%) | 0.566 | |||
| Married | 175 (90.5) | 132 (91.0) | 43 (89.6) | |
| Widowed or divorced | 5 (2.6) | 5 (3.5) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Never married | 13 (6.7) | 8 (5.5) | 5 (10.4) | |
| Quality of relationship with patients who had a stroke, n (%) | 0.232 | |||
| Very good | 69 (35.8) | 46 (31.7) | 23 (47.9) | |
| Good | 93 (48.2) | 76 (52.4) | 17 (35.4) | |
| Not bad | 29 (15.0) | 21 (14.5) | 8 (16.7) | |
| Bad | 1 (0.5) | 1 (0.7) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Very bad | 1 (0.5) | 1 (0.7) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Relationship to the patients who had a stroke, n (%) | 0.002** | |||
| Spouse | 149 (77.2) | 119 (82.1) | 30 (62.5) | |
| Sons or daughters | 35 (18.1) | 20 (13.8) | 15 (31.2) | |
| Parents | 5 (2.6) | 5 (3.4) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Others | 4 (2.1) | 1 (0.7) | 3 (6.2) | |
| Presence of an alternative caregiver, n (%) | 0.997 | |||
| Yes | 2 (1.0) | 1 (0.7) | 1 (2.1) | |
| No | 191 (99.0) | 144 (99.3) | 47 (97.9) | |
| Living with patients who had a stroke, n (%) | 0.005** | |||
| Yes | 160 (82.9) | 127 (87.6) | 33 (68.8) | |
| No | 33 (17.1) | 18 (12.4) | 15 (31.2) | |
| Household type, n (%) | 0.050* | |||
| Live alone | 6 (3.1) | 2 (1.4) | 4 (8.3) | |
| Conjugal family | 171 (88.6) | 130 (89.7) | 41 (85.4) | |
| Extended family | 16 (8.3) | 13 (9.0) | 3 (6.2) | |
| Employment status, n (%) | 0.643 | |||
| Employed | 88 (45.6) | 68 (46.9) | 20 (41.7) | |
| Unemployed | 105 (54.4) | 77 (53.1) | 28 (58.3) | |
| Income (Won), mean (SD) | 3342.6 (4829.2) | 3699.7 (5230.7) | 2263.8 (3139.7) | 0.024* |
| EQ-5D, mean (SD) | 0.9 (0.1) | 0.9 (0.1) | 0.9 (0.1) | 0.257 |
| PWI-SF, n (%) | 0.817 | |||
| Healthy (0–8) | 46 (23.8) | 33 (22.8) | 13 (27.1) | |
| Potential stress (9–26) | 116 (60.1) | 88 (60.7) | 28 (58.3) | |
| Severe stress (27–54) | 31 (16.1) | 24 (16.6) | 7 (14.6) | |
| CBI, mean (SD) | 26.2 (10.8) | 25.8 (10.7) | 27.1 (11.1) | 0.493 |
*p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001 when compared with the "Employed-Unemployed" group.
CBI, Caregiver Burden Index; EQ-5D, EuroQol-5 dimensions; PWI-SF, Psychosocial Well-being Index-Short Form.