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Depression and associated factors of informal caregivers versus professional caregivers of demented patients
Author(s) -
TAKAHASHI MEGUMI,
TANAKA KATSUTOSHI,
MIYAOKA HITOSHI
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2005.01401.x
Subject(s) - dementia , family caregivers , beck depression inventory , quality of life (healthcare) , depression (economics) , psychology , clinical psychology , rating scale , caregiver burden , psychiatry , gerontology , medicine , disease , developmental psychology , anxiety , pathology , economics , psychotherapist , macroeconomics
To examine the differences in depressive state and associated factors between informal and professional caregivers, a cross‐sectional study was carried out in 23 informal home‐based caregivers of demented patients, 24 professional caregivers working in the dementia ward of a psychiatric hospital, and 31 controls. Measurements included severity of dementia (Clinical Dementia Rating Scale, Mini Mental State Examination, MMSE) and levels of caregivers depression (Beck Depression Inventory; BDI), care burden (Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview; ZBI) and quality of life (World Health Organization–Quality of Life‐26, WHO‐QOL26). Informal caregivers had the highest BDI score and ZBI and the lowest QOL among the three studied groups. Regarding informal caregivers, there was a strong positive correlation between BDI and ZBI scores. The BDI and ZBI scores were significantly high when patients exhibited behavioral problems. The four WHO‐QOL categories (physical domain, psychological domain, social relationships and environment) had a strong negative correlation with BDI. Regression analysis demonstrated that the psychological domain points of WHO‐QOL, role strain factor of ZBI and MMSE score were significantly associated with BDI. Regarding professional caregivers, their BDI score had a strong negative correlation with the physical and psychological domains and environment categories of WHO‐QOL. Regression analysis demonstrated that their BDI score was significantly associated with the psychological domain and environment. It is thus very important to provide sufficient social care services and/or personal support to informal caregivers.