住院患者照护者医疗沟通困难与照护负担相关性

Objective To examine the association between medical communication difficulties and caregiver burden among caregivers of hospitalized patients. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 3,030 caregivers of hospitalized patients at a tertiary general hospital in Guangxi. Caregiver burden was assessed using the 12-item Zarit Burden Interview(ZBI-12, range 0～48), with a score of ≥17 indicating high caregiver burden. Six care-experience items were used to assess medical communication difficulties, which were categorized as none, 1～3 items, and 4～6 items. Group differences were examined using the chi-square test and Kruskal-Wallis H test, and the association between communication difficulties and high caregiver burden was evaluated using multivariable Logistic regression. Results The mean ZBI-12 score was(14.67±7.03), and 1,083 caregivers(35.74%) had high caregiver burden. The proportions with high caregiver burden were 6.09%, 36.75%, and 44.79% in the no-difficulty, 1～3 item, and 4～6 item groups, respectively(P<0.05). After adjustment for age, sex, educational attainment, wage loss, discomfort arising from conflicts between traditional Chinese and Western medicine, and patient multimorbidity, the odds ratios(OR) for high caregiver burden were 6.02(95%CI: 3.84～9.41) for the 1～3 item group and 8.79(95%CI: 5.61～13.77) for the 4～6 item group, compared with the no-difficulty group. Conclusion Medical communication difficulties were associated with high caregiver burden, and a greater number of difficulties corresponded to a higher burden. Inpatient communication should move from one-way information delivery toward shared understanding involving both patients and caregivers.