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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Physical disability contributes to caregiver stress in dementia caregivers | | Author(s) | David G Bruce, Glenys A Paley, Pamela Nichols |
| Journal title | Journals of Gerontology: Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, vol 60A, no 3, March 2005 |
| Pages | pp 345-349 |
| Source | http://www.geron.org |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Informal care ; Physical disabilities ; Stress ; Correlation ; Australia. |
| Annotation | Previous findings of studies on the impact of physical illness on caregiver health have been inconsistent. The authors wanted to determine whether physical disability - as determined by the SF-12 survey that provides information on both physical and mental health problems - contributes to caregiver stress. The authors interviewed 91 Australian primary caregivers (aged 38-85) of people with dementia who had been referred by their family physician for the first time for formal support services or memory evaluation. Caregivers completed the SF-12 version of the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form Health Survey. Most caregivers reported stress (76.9%), having medical conditions (72.4%), or taking medications (67%). The Mental Component Summary (MCS) of the SF-12 but not the Physical Component Summary (PCS) scores were significantly lower than community norms, indicating an excess of disability due to mental health problems. Nevertheless, 40.7% had PCS scores indicating some degree of physical disability. Using multiple logistic regression analysis, PCS scores but not the presence of medical problems were independently associated with caregiver stress. These results suggest that caregivers of people with dementia should be assessed for disabling physical conditions and mental health problems. In addition, reducing the impact of physical disability could ameliorate caregiver stress. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-051103203 A |
| Classmark | EA: P6: BN: QNH: 49: 7YA |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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