According to Lazarus and Folkman's theory, stress and coping affect an individual's anxiety, which is an adaptive outcome. This study examined the mediation effects of stress-coping strategies on the relationship between stress and anxiety in caregivers of patients with acute stroke. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used to analyze a total of 131 caregivers caring for patients with acute stroke at a university hospital. The Caregivers Stress Scale, Ways of Coping Questionnaire, and Korean Beck Anxiety Inventory were used to quantify the participants' responses. Our results revealed that emotion-focused coping (β = .56, p < .001) partially mediated the relationship between stress and anxiety (Z = 3.30, p < .001), suggesting its ability to exacerbate anxiety in the short term by acting as a mediator between stress and anxiety. Developing appropriate coping strategies for caregivers of patients with acute stroke is therefore critical for reducing their anxiety.
Keywords: anxiety; caregivers; coping; stress; stroke.