Caregiver perceptions in caring for post-stroke patients in Palopo City, South Sulawesi

The general aim of this study is to identify the events experienced by the caregiver (the husband/wife) in providing care to the post-stroke partner in Palopo City, South Sulawesi. This study is qualitative research using phenomenology design. Qualitative study is conducted to find out certain reasons on a topic or to understand the occurrence of a topic. The focus of the phenomenological approach is on the essence or event experienced by the participants. The results were processed using NVivo 10; and in terms of feelings, it was obtained the feeling of heavy-hearted, angry, disappointment, pity, sadness, and normal. The role of the caregivers undergoes either changes or no changes. The way of coping with the feelings is by accepting the conditions, calming down, talking to others, support from the children, the daughters, and other family members, praying, and even letting go of the burden. The caregiver overcomes the changes in terms of role by managing time and handling the situation like it used to. Based on the result of the interviews as well as the data analysis, a number of subthemes were found related to feelings, role and ways of overcoming.