Family caregivers of patients with dementia: an analysis of the feeling of burden according to their vulnerability and psychosocial resources.

TARTAGLINI, M.F.; HERMIDA, P.D.; CARUSO, D.; FELDBERG, C.; SOMALE, V.; STEFANI, D.

Londres

Conferencia; Alzheimer's Association International Conference; 2017

Alzheimer's Association

Introduction: Family caregivers of dementia patients are subject to a stressful process capable of generating physical and mental strain in them (Paleo Díaz &Rodríguez Paleo, 2006). The negative impact of caregiving has been describedwith the term burden, which refers to stress manifestations in family caregivers (Zarit, Reever y Bach-Peterson, 1980). Therefore, the scientific community has developed lines of research oriented towards identifying factors that have an impact on the increase of burden and those that could ameliorate said effect (Bruce, Paley, Nichols, Robert, Underwood & Schaper,2005). Objective: To analyze the role played by socio-demographic characteristics, stress-coping strategies and social support networks of interviewed caregivers, in the levelof burden. Method: A cross-sectional analytical and descriptive study was conducted. The sample was comprised of 200 Argentinean family caregivers ofpatients with dementia. The instruments used were: a Socio-demographic and psychosocial questionnaire (ad hoc), the Caregiver Burden Interview (Martín and cols., 1996), the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (Folkman, Lazarus, Pimley andNovacek, 1987), and the Social Resources Inventory (Diaz Veiga, 1985). Measures of central tendency and of dispersion were obtained to describe study variables and t test and simple linear regression analysis were obtained in order todetermine association between variables. Results: Median age of caregivers was 61 years old, mostly women (65%), wives (40%) with third level or graduateeducation (34%) and with middle to high occupational levels (45%). 63% ofinterviewed caregivers resided with the patient and the average time spentcaregiving was 47 months. The mean burden score was 54 points (ds= 16) and datatendency shows female gender increases that number (+5.25; p .028) whilesatisfaction derived from support given by a spouse and the use of the"Positive connotation and reconsideration" strategy tend to decreaseit. Discussion: The findings obtained concur with the results of other studies(Vitaliano, Zhang & Scanlan, 2003) and contribute empirical evidence of the role played by satisfaction with social support networks and the use ofadequate coping strategies in reducing the burden of caregivers. Results also show higher vulnerability among female caregivers.