Living With Mild to Moderate Alzheimer Patients Increases the Caregiver’s Burden at 6 Months

Abstract

The objective of our study was to demonstrate that living with a person affected by mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease can lead to an increased perception of the caregiver's burden using the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI). The sample consisted of 153 dyads, caregiver-patient. At baseline, a greater perception of the caregiver's burden was observed in the live-in caregivers. A further increase in the total burden of the live-in caregivers was noticed at the 6-month follow-up. More specifically, with the inclusion of correction factors such as the caregiver's age and the CBI subscales at baseline, the social and emotional burden becomes statistically significant (P < .001). The present paper confirms our hypothesis that live-in caregivers perceive a greater burden than nonlive-in, and this difference increases further after 6 months. The difference in involvement between live-in and nonlive-in caregivers could be the foundation to tailor more specific interventions.

Kinship and cohabitation in relation to caregiver burden in the context of Alzheimer's disease: a 24‐month longitudinal study

“…We noted that live‐in caregivers experienced a higher social and physical burden and their level of irritation increased over time. These data confirm the results of Raccichini et al () who showed that cohabitation was associated with a higher social and emotional burden. Cohabitation involves constantly attending to the needs of the PwD, which creates a greater burden and stress.…”

“…Raccichini et al () considered that live‐in adult–child caregivers experienced the same level of burden over time. Our research supports their conclusions, because this group maintained the highest level of burden throughout the follow‐up, which was associated with poorer mental health.…”

“…Therefore, interventions should be adapted to each caregiver, depending on kinship (Reed et al, ) and cohabitation. For a non‐live‐in caregiver, a more informative intervention would be most appropriate (Raccichini et al, ). In contrast, for a live‐in caregiver, with worse mental health associated with the burden, a more complete intervention would be necessary, in which external resources are implemented in some measure.…”

“…Regarding cohabitation with the patient, several studies have shown that caregivers living with persons with dementia (PwD) experience a greater burden (Raccichini et al, ; Kim et al, ; Reed et al, ), even after a period of time (Raccichini et al, ). In a previous study, it was observed that kinship and cohabitation characteristics of caregivers were independent factors in the perception of burden and its evolution (Conde‐Sala et al, ).…”

“…In addition, living with the patient involved a greater physical burden (Raccichini et al, ). Over time, this increased the global, social and emotional burden caused by patient care (Raccichini et al, ).…”