Social skills and well-being among family caregivers to patients with Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract

Background: Caring for a demented relative is frequently associated with burden; yet, a subset of family caregivers may experience it as rewarding. Certain characteristics, including personality factors, may render caregivers more resilient to stress and therefore attenuate the perception of burden and its impact on quality of life. Objective: To determine the association between social skills and well being among family caregivers to patients with dementia. Methods: Forty-one family caregivers to patients with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease (AD) were assessed with Social Skills Inventory (SSI-Del-Prette) and the Zarit Burden Interview; quality of life was estimated with WHO-QoL-bref questionnaire. Results: We found positive correlations between total SSI scores and the psychological (r = 0.450; p = 0.003) and environmental (r = 0.408; p = 0.008) domains of WHO-QoL-bref. The SSI factor 'self-control of aggressiveness' (SSI-F5) was negatively correlated with the magnitude of caregiver burden (r = -0.483; p = 0.001) and positively associated with the psychological domain of WHO-QoL-bref (r = 0.446; p = 0.003). Caregivers with better 'self-assertion in the expression of positive affect' (SSI-F2) also had better 'social relationships' according to WHO-QoL-bref (r = 0.402; p = 0.009). Discussion: The availability of more sophisticated repertoires of social skills may render family caregivers more resilient to burden, preserving their quality of life while enduring this task.

Qualidade de vida de famílias de filhos com deficiência intelectual moderada

“…Nesse sentido, cabe destacar que, normalmente, as famílias com filhos com deficiência necessitam de ajuda em algum momento da vida e, na maioria das vezes, recebem apoio informal de familiares e amigos 28 . Estudo com o objetivo de determinar a associação entre habilidades sociais e bem-estar entre familiares de pessoas com Alzheimer constatou correlações positivas entre essas variáveis: quanto maior o conjunto de habilidades sociais que os familiares detinham, maior era a possibilidade de resiliência à carga do cuidado, de forma a preservar a QVF 41 . Pessoas com poucas habilidades sociais são mais suscetíveis à sobrecarga emocional, por apresentarem uma limitada rede social e de apoio; dessa forma, tendem a receber menos suporte social informacional (relacionado a informações relevantes, orientações, conselhos), instrumental (assistência financeira ou no auxílio de tarefas) e emocional (carinho e confiança) 42,43 .…”

Revisiting caregiver burden among family carers of people with dementia

“…Such positive stance relies on the availability of adequate material resources and good coping abilities, which will depend on the integrity of current emotional state and on enduring personality characteristics of the caregiver. In a study conducted in our group, we assessed the influence of social skills and coping abilities on perceived stress among family carers of patients with Alzheimer's dementia; from the repertoire of social skills, certain abilities such as "self-affirmation in the expression of positive feelings" and "self-control of aggression" were associated with a better perception of quality of life, probably through improved resilience to endure the carer's role (Amorim et al, 2017). Social support is a well-accepted buffering factor that may protect caregivers against wearing out their coping capacity, helping them to deal better with the stressful situations inherent to the carer role; in this case, the perception of an empathetic network of support may work better than having an array of distinct, unarticulated supportive elements.…”

Cuidar a pessoa com demência no domicílio: caraterísticas do cuidador e sobrecarga

“…As estratégias de coping que se relacionam com estados de maior sobrecarga são as do tipo passivo, ao contrário dos efeitos do coping ativo (Bruvik et al, 2013) Estratégias de coping positivo, como estratégias focadas no problema, auto controlo da agressividade, procura de apoio social, aceitação da responsabilidade e reavaliação positiva resultam ser as que produzem efeitos mais positivos, relacionando-se com níveis de sobrecarga mais baixos (Amorim et al, 2017;Huang et al, 2015;Chakma & Goswami, 2016;Papastavrou et al, 2011).…”

“…Um elaborado reportório de habilidades sociais, avaliado pelo The Social Skills Inventory, desenvolvido por Del Prette (Amorim et al, 2017), bem como uma maior perceção de apoio social recebido nos cuidadores do estudo de Kowalska et al (2017), utilizando o Berlin Social Suport Scale, refletem-se em menores níveis de sobrecarga. O mesmo efeito foi observado no estudo de Campbell et al (2008), quando as experiências de vida adversas, experimentadas, em algum momento, pelos cuidadores (e não relacionadas com a tarefa de cuidar) se relacionaram com níveis mais baixos de sobrecarga.…”