Abstract: Objective To explore the depression status and associated factors among informal caregivers of patients with critical illness. Methods Totally 554 patients with critical illness and their informal caregivers in Shandong rural areas were extracted using a multi-stage stratified random sampling method, and the survey was conducted with self-rating depression scale(SDS)and a self-made questionnaire. T-tests for binary variables and one-way ANOVA analyses for polytomous variables were used to assess factors significantly associated with SDS score. Multiple linear regression with OLS method was employed to study how each factor affected SDS score after confounding variables were controlled. Results The SDS score of caregivers was 50.82±13.41, which was higher than the normal score(41.85±10.57). Caregivers with good self-rated health had significantly lower SDS score than those with poor self-rated health(P<0.001, β=-6.88). Caregivers who provided over 13 hours of care per day had significantly higher SDS score(P<0.001, β=5.40). Family economic status had a significant impact on the depressive status among caregivers, with SDS score negatively correlated with total annual per capita income(P=0.007, β=-1.08). In addition, SDS score of caregivers was related to self-rated health and gender of the patients they cared. Conclusion The level of depression in informal caregivers of patients with critical illness in rural areas is high, which should arouse proper attention.

Key words: Caregivers depression status, Informal caregivers, Critically ill patients, Rural areas