Support system diversity among family caregivers of stroke survivors: a qualitative study exploring Asian perspectives

Table 4 The caregiver support system of family caregivers of stroke survivors

1. Types	Dyadic caregiver support type	Extended caregiver support type	Distributed caregiver support type	Empowering caregiver support type
2. Paid or unpaid	Unpaid	Unpaid	Paid/ Unpaid	Unpaid
3. People constituting support system (along with the family caregiver)	Stroke survivor	Family, friends, community (e.g., faith-based)	Family (mainly siblings), foreign domestic worker or FDW	Peer support group, healthcare providers
4. Activities included in the support system	Emotional support and mutual understanding	Complementary support with activities, including but not limited to visiting the stroke survivor and providing company, accompanying the caregiver for shopping, helping with the household chores, or lending a listening ear	All caregiving related tasks	Sharing information, gaining knowledge and skills, the avenue for getting new ideas, support and advice from peer caregivers who were more experienced
5. Setting: community or healthcare setting	Community	Community	Community/ Healthcare	Healthcare
6. Caregiver identity: most commonly coded descriptions from	Spouse caregivers	Spouse caregivers	Adult-child caregivers	Spouse caregivers

The caregiver support system is operationalized as comprising of types, people and activities that enable the caregiver to participate in caregiving related activities sustainably. This could include paid, unpaid or both types of caregiving arrangements. Four types of caregiver support system are reported: dyadic caregiver support type, extended caregiver support type, distributed caregiver support type, and empowering caregiver support type. The following are the attributes described across each caregiver support type: paid or unpaid caregiving arrangement, constituting people, activities included, setting of operating of the support system and caregiver identity type most commonly coded descriptions came from

ISSN: 1471-2318