Dementia caregiving is a unique and the caregivers faces extreme challenges which affect care-giver’s mental health adversely. Family caregiving towards elderly individuals with dementia is becoming widespread. The study aims to evaluate the mental health status of dementia family caregivers and some related factors that affect their mental health condition. Present cross sectional study includes a total of 134 family caregivers. Socio-demographic and caregiving related data were collected using pre-tested questionnaires. Standardized questionnaires were used to collect data on caregivers’ mental health traits (measured in terms of level of stress and anxiety), level of psychosocial distress, support they provided and the care recipient’s behavioural symptoms associated with dementia. Mean age of the caregivers was 61.64 years (SD 13.89) while the care recipients were above 70 years of age. Mean age of care recipients was 75.46±7.26 years. Alzheimer’s type of dementia was the most common type found among them. Higher level of stress and anxiety was prevalent among the caregivers. Level of education, being a spouse, psychological distress has strong relationship with caregivers’ mental health condition. Behavioural abnormalities of care recipients were also responsible for poor mental health conditions of caregivers. Family caregiving is becoming the most suitable option nowadays and it associated with caregivers’ psychological distress and other health issues. Present study also revealed distressed mental health conditions of caregivers. Since care recipients remain dependent mostly on their family care-givers, it is necessary that caregivers should be fit mentally as well as physically. Therefore, proper support and management is needed for caregivers in near future.
Dementia is considered a most serious and disabling condition, affecting both the individual suffering from it and their caregiver. Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the relationship between neuropsychiatric problems of dementia and caregiver burden. Methods: A total of 138 caregivers of people with dementia participated in this cross-sectional study. The caregivers completed the questionnaires containing sociodemographic information as well as neuropsychiatric problems of dementia and caregiver burden. Results: The findings showed that all of the care-recipients were suffering from some kind of neuropsychiatric symptoms, the most common being apathy, anxiety, motor disturbance, and hallucination. Out of 12 symptoms, 11 were significantly associated with caregivers’ burden. The most important finding is that the severity of neuropsychiatric symptoms is highly responsible for severe caregivers’ burden. Conclusions: The identification of neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia that influence caregiver burden is very critical for both caregivers’ and care-recipients’ health perspective. These findings can also be utilized to create care settings for demented people and help determine policies in the future.
Numerous studies have revealed that adverse health issues are common in demented caregivers; however, less is known about the health consequences of spouse caregivers. The purpose of this study was to compare the psychological health of spousal and non-spousal caregivers of demented individuals. In addition, it also examined the association and strength of the relationship between spouse and non-spousal caregivers’ socio-economic condition. This was a cross-sectional study that included 136 caregivers of demented individuals. Among them, 55.89% ( n = 76) were a spouse. The findings suggest that spousal caregivers who care for their demented spouse feel higher anxiety and depressive symptoms as compared with non-spousal caregivers. Socio-demographic factors were shown to be an important predictor of spousal caregivers’ mental health condition. The findings of this study have major policy implications owing to the predicted increase in demand for caregivers, especially spousal caregivers, as the incidence rate of dementia rises over time. It is essential that we endorse not only the health of the care-recipient but also the spousal caregiver as well. We believe that improving access to caregivers’ respite programs would benefit spousal caregivers.
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