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P2‐345: Early‐onset dementia: Needs of patients and carers in the early diagnostic stage
Author(s) -
Green Theresa,
Smith Eric,
Hogan David,
Pearson Dawn,
Roach Pamela
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2012.05.1054
Subject(s) - dementia , focus group , demographics , qualitative research , medicine , quality of life (healthcare) , gerontology , qualitative property , psychology , nursing , disease , social science , demography , pathology , marketing , sociology , business , machine learning , computer science
measures of burden, depression and intrusive thoughts were also administered. Results: All three aspects of perceived patient suffering were significantly correlated with depression and burden and with intrusive thoughts (p’s< .01). Intrusive thoughts were also correlated with burden and depression (p’s < .05). Meditational analyses were used to test the hypothesis that the relationship between perceived suffering and well-being outcomes is mediated by intrusive thoughts. The direct paths between physical and spiritual/existential suffering and depression were not significant after accounting for intrusive thoughts. The proportion of variance mediated by intrusive thoughts in these models was 48% and 40% respectively. Intrusive thoughts also partially mediated the relationship between psychological suffering and depression (22%) and between physical (24%,), psychological (13%), and spiritual/existential (17%) suffering and burden. All models were statistically significant (p’s < .01). Conclusions: The findings enrich our understanding of the relationship between perceived suffering and caregiver well-being by showing how unwanted rumination erodes well-being. They also suggest new intervention strategies for improving well-being including meditation and learning to think about unwanted topics in a controlled fashion.