ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicHealth and Psychological Adaptations to Life Challenges and Stressful Conditions - Volume IIView all 20 articles
Heterogeneity in family resilience among Chinese stroke patient-caregiver dyads: A latent profile analysis study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Nursing, Ningbo Medical Center Lihuili Hospital, Ningbo, China
- 2Ningbo Medical Centre Lihuili Hospital, Ningbo, China
- 3Department of Pharmacy, Ningbo Medical Centre Lihuili Hospital, Ningbo, China
- 4Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Ningbo Medical Centre Lihuili Hospital, Ningbo, China
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Background: While family resilience is a recognized determinant of adaptation following stroke, the distinct, empirically derived profiles of family resilience among Chinese stroke survivor-caregiver dyads have not been clearly delineated. Identifying these profiles and their determinants is crucial for developing targeted interventions. Objective: To identify latent profiles of family resilience and examine the socio-demographic and clinical factors associated with profile membership among stroke patient-caregiver dyads in China. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a convenience sample of 773 stroke survivor-caregiver dyads was recruited from three hospitals in Zhejiang Province, China. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted on the 20-item Family Resilience Questionnaire (FRQ). Multinomial logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with profile membership. Results: LPA supported a four-profile solution: Profile 1 "Low-Functioning Families" (22%), Profile 2 "Moderately Resilient - Low Cohesive Families" (24%), Profile 3 "Highly Resilient - Well-Functioning Families" (31%), and Profile 4 "High-Functioning - Optimistically Resilient Families" (24%). Multinomial logistic regression revealed that lower caregiver competence (higher FCTI scores) was strongly associated with profile membership (standardized aORs ranged from 2.58 to 43.19), whereas higher perceived social support (PSSS) was a significant protective factor (standardized aORs ranged from 0.03 to 0.19). Caregiver relationship and payment source were also significantly associated with profile membership. Conclusion: Family resilience among Chinese stroke families manifests in four distinct profiles, which are differentiated predominantly by caregiver competence and perceived social support. Our findings advocate for a precision family support paradigm, shifting from one-size-fits-all approaches to interventions tailored to distinct resilience profiles. Given the strong association, intervention programs should prioritize enhancing core caregiver competencies as a primary leverage point for building family resilience.
Keywords: Caregivers, Family, family resilience, latent profile analysis, Stroke
Received: 19 Nov 2025; Accepted: 09 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Ma, Yu, Xu, Shi and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yiqing Zhang
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