Study On Care Burden And Positive Experience And Their Influential Factors Of Caregivers Of People With Senile Dementia In Changsha

Objective:To describe care burden and positive experience of family caregivers of people with senile dementia in caregiving situations and explore the effects of caregivers’ personal characteristics and its interaction with their environment on the caregivers’ burden and positive experience,so as to provide effective evidence for intervention strategies of improvement of the quality of life of the patients and their caregivers.Methods:A multi-plot cross-sectional survey was conducted.The research objects were patients with senile dementia and their caregivers in Changsha.The investigation was carried out from April2011to March2012. According to including criteria153subjects were recruited.Research instruments included General Information Questionnaire,Revised Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist (RMBPC),Social Support Rating Scale(SSRS),Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), Zarit Burden Interview(ZBI) and Positive Aspects of Caregiving(PAC).Statistic analysis was performed with SPSS17.0. Statistic methods included descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA),Kruskal-Wallis H test,Spearman correlation analysis and multiple linear stepwise regression analysis. Results:1.67.3%of the caregivers were women.59.4%of the caregivers were at the age of above60years old.56.2%of the caregivers were the patient’s spouse.60.8%of the caregivers reported that their perceived health status is poor or fair.62.8%of caregivers provided more than6-hour’ care per day to their patients.64.7%reported that they were strongly willing or willing to get professional medical help or community volunteer services.2. The mean score of ZBI of the caregivers was38.25±14.29which was moderate,91.8%of the caregivers suffered from various levels of care burden, specifically69caregivers (45.1%) with light burden,59caregivers(38.6%) with moderate burden, and11caregivers(7.2%) with heavy burden.3. PAC score of in Chinese caregivers was32.18±8.12, which was moderate to great. The top three items were "I think people need me"(4.41±0.72),"makes me feel I am very important"(4.11±1.08), makes me feel I am a useful person"(3.94±0.95).4. Multiple linear stepwise regression analysis showed caregivers’ perceived financial burden, caregivers’ perceived health status, current affective relationship with the patients, daily caring hours provided for the patients,negative coping styles, and patients with memory problems were included in the regression equation (F=27.247, P=0.000) in which the dependent variable was caregivers’ burden.These6factors could explain52.8%of the variation for the caregivers’ burden.5. Multiple linear stepwise regression analysis showed caregivers’ positive coping styles,the frequency of the desire to insitutionalize the patients,reasons for being a caregiver,current affective relationship with the patient,as well as patients with depression and their gender were included into the regression equation (R=0.781, R2=0.611)in which the dependent variable was caregivers’ positive experience.These6factors could explain61.1%of the variation for caregivers’positive experience.Conclusion:1.Caregiving senile dementia patients are mainly undertook by their relatives, of which old women or the patient’s spouses play important roles in the caregiving.Most of the caregivers reports poor or worse perceived health status and they have strong willing to get professional medical help or community volunteer services.2. Care burn and positive experiences co-exist in carers of people with senile dementia, with moderate and moderate to great level respectively. Postitive experiences mainly stem from the feelings that "I think people need me","makes me feel I am very important" and "makes me feel I am a useful person ".3. The influential factors of caregiver’s burden include caregivers’ perceived financial burden, caregivers’ perceived health status, current affective relationship with the patient, daily caring hours providing for the patients and negative coping styles, as well as patients with memory problems.4.The influential factors of caregiver’s positive experience include caregivers’ positive coping styles,the frequency of the desire to insitutionalizw the patients,reasons for being a caregiver,current affective relationship with patient,as well as patients with depression and their gender.