FACTORS AFFECTING CAREGIVER BURDEN IN A SAMPLE OF CAREGIVERS OF EGYPTIAN DEMENTIA PATIENTS

Abstract

Dementia may be defined as a disorder that is characterized by a decline in cognition involving one or more cognitive domains (learning and memory, language, executive function, complex attention, perceptual, motor, social-cognition). Care giving for persons with dementia is a global issue because today, over 46 million people live with dementia worldwide. This number is estimated to increase to 131.5 million by 2050. Caregiver burden has been defined as a multidimensional response to physical, psychological, emotional, social and financial stressors associated with the care giving experience. The aim of the study is to investigate the factors associated with caregiver burden in a sample of caregivers of Egyptian patients with dementia. This study is a cross sectional study carried on 96 primary caregivers of community dwelling elderly patients with dementia. Patients were diagnosed with dementia by DSM-IV criteria, and were subjected to MMSE, Cornell Depression Scale, ADL and IADL. Caregivers who were mentally ill before caregiving and who were not living with the care recipients were excluded from the study. Caregivers’ socio-demographic data was collected, and were subjected to ZBI, STAI-1,2, and PHQ-9. The study showed that most caregivers were middle aged females, most of them were depressed and nearly half of the care recipients were suffering from clinically significant depres