Depression among caregivers of patients with dementia: Associative factors and management approaches

Abstract

As elderly people increasingly come to represent a higher proportion of the world’s population, various forms of dementia are becoming a significant chronic disease burden. The World Health Organization emphasizes dementia care as a public health priority and calls for more support for family caregivers who commonly play a significant, central role in dementia care. Taking care of someone with dementia is a long-term responsibility that can be stressful and may lead to depression among family caregivers. Depression and related behavioral and cognitive changes among caregivers could in turn affect the status and prognosis of the dementia patient. This review article explores depression in dementia caregivers and summarizes proposed mechanisms, associated factors, management and research findings, and proposes future research directions.

Relationship of Psychological Flexibility and Mindfulness to Caregiver Burden, and Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Caregivers of People with Dementia

“…The caregiver-patient relationship was identified to have a significant association with depressive symptoms in caregivers of PwD, where non-spousal caregivers suffered from significantly greater depressive symptoms than spousal caregivers. This finding contrasts with previous studies which found that spousal relationships were associated with greater depressive symptoms, strain, and psychological morbidity [8,54,134,153]. This could be explained by the age of the caregivers in our study as more than 90% of the non-spousal caregivers were children, children-in-law, and grandchildren.…”

“…At the bivariate level, the first factor related to depressive symptoms among the caregivers of PwD was the patient's age, where caregivers of younger PwD experience a higher level of depressive symptoms. This finding was consistent with those of previous studies [30,54,133,134]. Malaysia has an aging population, where its transition from aging to and aged society in just 24 years has followed the trend in other countries with highincome economies, e.g., Japan.…”

“…The caregiver's female gender also significantly predicted depressive symptoms in caregivers of PwD. This finding was consistent with previous literature [11,30,134,157,158]. One explanation for the gender difference in depressive symptoms in dementia caregivers might be related to stress-coping theory [159].…”

A meta‐analysis of mindfulness‐based interventions for improving mental health and burden among caregivers of persons living with dementia

“…In this meta‐analysis, seven studies had an intervention duration of ≥8 weeks, and three of the studies showed a significant reduction in depression (Danucalov et al., 2013; Kor et al., 2022; Whitebird et al., 2013). Caregivers of persons living with dementia frequently suffer depression as a result of the complex and difficult duty of caring for persons living with dementia without knowing when this caregiving will end (Cheng et al., 2021; Huang, 2022). As a result, a more appropriate strategy than mindfulness‐based interventions such as cognitive‐behavioral therapy and interpersonal therapy aimed at improving dysfunctional thoughts and increasing gratifying activities is necessary to assist caregivers in coping with stressful and difficult situations (Biliunaite et al., 2021; Bruijniks et al., 2022; Whiston et al., 2019).…”

Suicide risk in caregivers of people with dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Moreover, reduction of activities of daily living may result in a greater level of care that consequently increases caregiver’s stress. Caregiver depression is thought to be a consequence of care due to a complex interplay of factors that comprises dimensions of the patient, caregiver, and cultural background [ 26 ]. It is important to note that a potential increase in suicidal behavior is associated with all caregivers and not just caregivers of those with dementia.…”