Assessment of burden in caregivers of
Alzheimer's disease from India
Asian Journal of Psychiatry
Volume 3, Issue 3 , Pages 112-116, September 2010
Introduction
Most of existing literature on
dementia caregiving comes from Western countries but the caregiving experience
appears to vary in different societies. The cultural norms and socioeconomic
resources of India are in stark contrast to western societies, however the
dementia caregiver burden remains understudied in Indian context.
Aim
We aim to assess the burden in
relation to key variables and explore its predictors in caregivers of
Alzheimer's disease.
Method
Thirty-two patient-caregiver
dyads were selected. The dementia characteristics were assessed with Hindi
Mental State Examination and Clinical Dementia Rating; burden was evaluated
using Burden Assessment Schedule.
Results
The caregiver sample had an overall moderate degree of burden. The burden
in patient's behavior and external support area increased with the degree of cognitive impairment. Caregivers for male
patients were found to have a higher burden. The female caregivers perceived
higher burden in physical and mental health, spouse related and caregiver's routine. The burden in caregivers from joint families did not
differ from nuclear families except for a lower burden in external support
area. On stepwise multiple
regression, spousal relation, HMSE score and male patient emerged as
significant predictors of total burden.
Conclusion
There is a need to devote more
research attention towards dementia caregivers from developing countries and to
understand the culture-specific impact of caregiving.
Perceived Caregiver Burden in India, Implications for Social Services.
Abstract
The study presented here explores the influences of selected social and
social psychological factors that are associated with perceived caregiver
burden in a sample of 263 primary caregivers of the elderly in Allahabad City
in northern India. The results indicate that although male caregivers'
perceived burden depends only on the size of the role overload, female
caregivers' perceived burden depends on the interrelationship between the size
of the role overload and adherence to Asian cultural norms. Implications of the
findings for social work are discussed.
doi: 10.1177/0886109908326998
Affilia February 2009 vol. 24 no. 169-79
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