Social support, positive caregiving experience, and caregiver burden in informal caregivers of older adults with dementia

Abstract

IntroductionDementia is currently one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older adults worldwide. Cognitive dysfunction, neuropsychiatric symptoms, somatic complaints, and functional impairment fundamentally affect not only a person living with dementia (PLwD), but also his/her informal caregiver(s), often resulting in a high caregiver burden. A number of variables, including the caregiver's sociodemographic characteristics, the clinical characteristics of PLwD, social support, and the caregiver's personal resources determine the caregiver's burden.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to investigate the associations of caregiver burden in informal caregivers of PLwD with perceived social support, positive caregiving experience, and applying therapeutic communication methods.MethodsThe data were collected from September 2021 to February 2022 among 115 “PLwD—informal caregiver” dyads in the community settings in Slovakia. Measures included the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI-12), the Oslo Social Support Scale (OSSS-3), the Positive Aspects of Caregiving Scale (PACS), and two questions on applying therapeutic communication methods—reminiscence and validation according to Naomi Feil. The Short IQCODE was used for assessing cognitive decline in PLwD. Pearson's and Spearman's correlations, t-tests, Chi-square, ANOVA, and linear multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data (IBM SPSS 27).ResultsThe mean age of informal caregivers was 54 ± 12.4 years (81.7% of women) and the mean caregiving duration was 4.8 ± 4.8 years. The mean age of PLwD was 80.5 ± 8.3 years (73.0% of women) and their Short IQCODE mean score was 4.1 ± 1.0. Lower caregiving burden was significantly associated with higher perceived social support (β = 0.33, p < 0.01), with higher positive caregiving experience (β = 0.33, p < 0.01), and higher caregiving intensity (β = 0.24, p < 0.05) among informal caregivers of PLwD. The associations between caregiver burden and applying two therapeutic communication methods were not significant.ConclusionsImplementing psycho-social and educational public health interventions focused on strengthening social support and maintaining positive perceptions of caregiving can help reduce the increased risk of caregiver burden in informal caregivers of older adults with dementia.

Caregiver burden, mental health, quality of life and self- efficacy of family caregivers of persons with dementia in Malaysia: Baseline results of a psychoeducational intervention study

“…The availability and accessibility of support in societies with mostly family caregivers are positively related to quality of life [1]. Consistent with other research [2,50], our results indicate that family caregivers reporting a higher social support including family support, friend support and signi cant other support are more likely to report better quality of life. In addition, improved quality of life was more likely to be reported by family caregivers who were employed and identi ed themselves as Muslim.…”

Dementia care and prevention in community settings: a built environment framework for cognitive health promotion

“…Given the transdisciplinary nature of the work, collaboration and communication across divergent interests and knowledge traditions are necessary. We note “communication” from built environment perspectives is distinct from psychosocial perspectives [79 ▪ ,90]. The former emphasizes communication across sectors, whereas the latter underscores personhood as the basis for better communication with PLCD.…”

“…Many frameworks focused on professional competencies and systems change, including innovative clinical practices and tools [77 ▪▪ ,78 ▪▪ ,79 ▪ –85 ▪ ,86]. They also provided frameworks to complement caregiving with policy supports [87 ▪▪ ,88 ▪ ,89 ▪ ,90]. To illustrate, Lu et al [77 ▪▪ ] surveyed 1253 general practitioners on community detection and management of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) for early detection and prevention of dementia.…”

The moderating effect of care time on care-related characteristics and caregiver burden: differences between formal and informal caregivers of dependent older adults

“…Previous studies have examined the relationship between care time and care burden ( 18 , 50 ). Increased caregiver time was found to be associated with negative outcomes ( 51 ).…”

“…Care-recipient factors influencing care burden were physical disability ( 11–13 ), mental dependency ( 11 ), and behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia ( 13 ). Caregiver factors were gender ( 11 ), age ( 13–15 ), satisfaction with care ( 16 ), caring time ( 10 , 17 , 18 ), duration of caregiving ( 11 ), care attitude ( 19 ), and stress ( 6 , 11 ). Lastly, the utilization of community services ( 20 ) and perceived social support ( 11 , 20 ) were social factors reported to affect caregiver burden of care.…”