title: Determinants of Health-Related Quality of Life in Taiwanese Middle-Aged Women Stroke Survivors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Female stroke victims have a higher survival rate and experience a greater loss of quality of life than do male stroke victims. The aim of this study was to evaluate the determinants of health-related quality of life in middle-aged women stroke survivors.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study is a cross-sectional design.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional research uses a descriptive, prospective, and correlational study design to investigate the associations between latent variables. Participants included women stroke survivors, aged 45-65 years, who were patients at a medical center in Taiwan. Participants completed an interview and a six-part questionnaire comprising the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, Modified Rankin Scale, Burden Scale, Chinese Health Questionnaire, and five items that pertain to the survivor's cognitive appraisal of coping. Structural equation modeling (SEM), with the use of the partial least squares (PLS) method, was used to examine the proposed conceptual model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 48 dyad samples (48 female stroke survivors, mean age = 55.29; 48 caregivers, mean age = 42.71) participated in the study. Overall, women's physical functioning (PF; stroke severity), cognitive appraisal of coping, and caregiver's psychosocial functioning were the predictors, explaining 43.3% of the variance in women's health-related quality of life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found that female stroke survivors' level of stroke severity and negative appraisal-impact of stroke are significant predictors of the stroke survivor's quality of life. In addition to assisting women in their PF rehabilitation, rehabilitation nurses also should help to develop survivors' self-care confidence as a means to avoid the recurrence of stroke.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Nursing, Min-Hwei Junior College of Health Care Management, Tainan City, Taiwan2 Division of Neurology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chi Mei Medical Center, Liouying, Tainan City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsiang-Chu
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Pai
authors.forename: Ming-Hsiu
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Mei-Yueh
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D019145:Rehabilitation Nursing / Q000379:methods; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D013624:Taiwan