The relationship between care burden and social support in Turkish Alzheimer patients family caregivers: Cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objectives: Most of the Alzheimer's patients are looked after at home by family members. Caregivers who are not prepared for looking after these patients are under pressure because of their increasing needs. Both patients and family members need social support provided by not only healthcare professionals but also family, friends and neighbors in order to cope with their physical, psychological, social and economical problems. This study was conducted in order to determine the relationship between care burden and perceived social support of family caregivers who look after an Alzheimer's patient.Methods: This study was cross-sectional and conducted at a neurology outpatient clinic of a university hospital. 107 family members who take care of an Alzheimer's patient was included. Personal information form, Barthel Index (BI), Lawton-Brody Index (LBI), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), and Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) were used to collect data.

Investigation of the Relationship Between the Levels of Loneliness and Social Support Perceived by Caregivers of Bedridden Patients

“…It was also found that the social support decreases as the age of mothers of children with disabilities, relatives of patients with stroke, relatives of patients with Alzheimer's disease and relatives of patients with Parkinson's disease increases (Aras and Tel, 2009;Coşkun and Akkaş, 2009;McRae et al, 2009;Tuna and Olgun, 2010;Yurtsever et al, 2013). The findings in this study are in line with these findings.…”

“…Similarly, no statistically significant difference was reported between age and the perceived social support in caregivers of patients diagnosed with psychiatric disorders and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Aras and Tel, 2009;Tel et al, 2010). On the other hand, social support was found to be higher in male caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease (Yurtsever et al, 2013). Since our study was carried out with caregivers of bedridden patients, this may lead to non-discrimination of gender in giving support to the caregivers.…”

“…No statistically significant difference was found between mean social support scores of the caregivers and duration of care (p>0.05), (Table 5). Similarly, it was reported that the duration of care did not affect the perceived social support in relatives of patients with Alzheimer's disease (Yurtsever et al, 2013). Dökmen (2012), stated that social support decreases with increasing duration of care.…”

“…Although there was no statistically significant difference between mean social support scores and income levels of the caregivers, the mean social support score was higher in caregivers with higher levels of income (Table 5). The social support was reported to increase as the income level increases in mothers of children with disabilities, relatives of children patients with cancer, and relatives of patients with Alzheimer's disease (Coşkun and Akkaş, 2009;Yurtsever et al, 2013;Alsancak et al, 2014). The possibility to reach more resources may affect the perceived social support in caregivers with higher levels of income.…”

“…Tang andChen (2002), andAlsancak et al (2014) reported that the degree of relatives of patients affects the perceived social support. Yurtsever et al (2013), reported that the degree of relatives of patients with Alzheimer's disease does not affect the perceived social support. In our study, the higher perceived social support in caregivers who were sons of patients may be related to the culture of Turkey.…”