Burden of informal caregivers of stroke survivors: Validation of the Zarit burden interview in an African population.

Background: Informal care giving can be burdensome particularly where the option of institutionalized informal care scarcely exist.

Objective: To look at the burden of informal caregivers of stroke survivors using the Zarit burden interview (ZBI).

Method: 64 stroke survivors were assessed for demographics of age, gender, duration of follow-up since discharged from in-patient care, modified Rankin score at the time of discharge and at the time of evaluation for this study and the most important informal care giver at home was also assessed for whether care giving was telling on their health or life in any negative way.