The potential association among fatigue, resilience, and depression in stroke patients: A prospective longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVES: Poststroke depression (PSD) is an important clinical issue affecting patients' functional recovery and health outcomes, which is related to poststroke fatigue (PSF) and resilience. However, there are limited longitudinal studies exploring the potential association among PSF, resilience, and PSD. This study aimed to explore the potential longitudinal association among PSF, resilience, and PSD. METHOD: Purposive sampling was used to collect data from 339 stroke patients in the Neurology Department of a hospital in China between September 2022 and October 2023. Data were collected using the General Information Questionnaire, the Fatigue Severity Scale, the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale during acute hospitalization (T1), 3 months after discharge (T2), and 6 months after discharge (T3). RESULTS: PSF at T1 was negatively associated with resilience at T2; resilience at T2 was negatively associated with PSD at T3, and PSD at T2 was negatively associated with resilience at T3; PSF at T1 was positively associated with PSD at T2. Furthermore, resilience at T2 played a partial longitudinal mediating role between PSF at T1 and PSD at T3. CONCLUSION: Reducing PSF during acute hospitalization and improving resilience at 3 months after discharge might be effective ways by which PSD at 6 months after discharge could be improved. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).