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Stress in caregivers of demented people in Korea—a modification of Pearlin and colleagues' stress model
Author(s) -
Lee Hyoung Suk,
Kim Doh Kwan,
Kim JiHae
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.1563
Subject(s) - stressor , psychology , dementia , caregiver burden , distress , coping (psychology) , clinical psychology , social support , beck depression inventory , anxiety , psychiatry , disease , medicine , psychotherapist , pathology
Objectives We investigated the influence of demented people's function and caregiver burden on caregivers' psychological distress. Based on a modified model of Pearlin and colleagues (1990), we assessed the stress of demented people's caregivers in Korea. Methods A total of 122 demented people and their caregivers participated in this study. We evaluated dementia severity by the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), and caregivers reported their objective and subjective stressors. Objective stressors are the demented people's functional deterioration and behavioral problems, and subjective stressors are caregivers' reaction to objective stressors and the subjective burden in caregiving. The overall psychological distress of caregivers was evaluated by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory‐State (STAI‐S). Results There were significant differences in both objective and subjective stressors according to the severity of dementia, but there was no significant difference in caregivers' psychological distress. The goodness‐of‐fit evaluation model showed the coping and social support variables affected the psychological distress as mediator variables (df = 109, χ 2 = 209.75, NFI = 0.949, RFI = 0.929, IFI = 0.975, TLI = 0.964, RMSEA = 0.087). Conclusion The model suggests that psychological distress of caregivers is related to diverse variables, such as objective and subjective stressors, coping, and social support. This study provides verification of the modified model of Pearlin and coworkers in Koreans, and lays a foundation for practical use and further study. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.