Concordance, Communication and Confidence of Caregivers of Elderly Outpatients with Eczema in a Tertiary Institution

Background: Eczema is rampant in elderly people. Family caregivers play pivotal roles in their care, therefore addressing their healthcare needs is essential for the successful management of elderly eczema. Objective: We aim to determine the concordance, communication and confidence of family caregivers of elderly patients with eczema with assessment of demographic factors interplaying with care of eczema as well. Method: In a cross-sectional self-administered survey, the socio-demographic characteristics, the support in terms of knowledge and communication; confidence level in managing elderly patients over 65 years old with eczema, xerosis and secondary pruritus were collected from 97 participants. Results: Respondent rate was 85.6%. Most respondents were Chinese, females and had secondary education or lower. Their mean (SD) age was 54.7±14.8 years. In 10 and 19 of the items respectively for knowledge domain and 3 and 7 of the items for communication domain had above or equal to 75% and 50% correct answers by the respondents respectively. The confidence of caregiver and perception of severity of eczema; and between recognising complications of eczema and perception of severity (r = 0.361, p = 0.001) was positively correlated but weak. Conclusion: Concordance, communication and confidence levels can be improved in caregivers of elderly with eczema.