Telephone Assessment and Skill-Building Intervention for Stroke Caregivers

Inclusion Criteria: * Primary caregiver (unpaid family member or significant other) of a stroke survivor * No more than 8 weeks after survivor discharged home * Plans to be providing care for 1 year or longer * Access to a telephone * Willingness to participate in 9 calls from a nurse and 5 data collection interviews at designated study time points Exclusion Criteria: * Caregiver or survivor age \< 21 years * Caregiver denies that survivor has had a stroke * Caregiver does not consider him or herself a caregiver, stating that the survivor is not impaired or is the same as before the stroke * Caregiver has low task difficulty (OCBS task difficulty score \< 16) * Caregiver communication difficulties (e.g., hearing loss) * Caregiver not fluent in the English language * Caregiver 6-item MMSE score less than 4 * Survivor residing in a nursing home or long-term care facility * Survivor or caregiver has a terminal illness (e.g., cancer, end of life condition with decreased life expectancy, renal failure requiring dialysis) * Survivor or caregiver history of hospitalization for alcohol or drug abuse * Survivor or caregiver history of severe mental illness (e.g., Alzheimer's, dementia, suicidal tendencies, severe untreated depression or manic depressive disorder, schizophrenia) * Survivor or caregiver pregnancy * Survivor or caregiver is a prisoner or on house arrest