Evaluation of Caregiver Burden in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

OpenAlex İngilizce

Objective: This descriptive study was carried out to evaluate the caregiver burden of disease in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (pwAD).Materials and Methods: The research was carried out with 30 Alzheimer patients and caregivers followed in the neurology outpatient clinic of a university hospital between July 2021 and September 2021. Alzheimer patient’s research data were collected with Patient information form, Neuropsychiatric Inventory, Clinical Dementia Rating Scale, The Physical Self-Maintenance Scale and Activities of Daily Living Scale. Caregivers applied the Caregiver information form, Beck Depression Scale, Beck Anxiety Scale, and Caregiver Burden Scale. Data analyses were done with the SPSS 18.0 computer program.Results: The mean age of Alzheimer’s patients was 76.54±7.79 years, 50% were women and the mean year of diagnosis was 2.38±1.98. The mean age of caregivers was 56.50±17.89, 83.3% were women, 83.3% were married and 66.3% were housewives. It was found that the burden of caregiving increased as the patients’ behavioral problems, forgetfulness levels, disease stage and dependency level in daily living activities increased (p <0.01).Conclusion: The burden of care in Alzheimer’s disease is positively related to the dependence of the patient on the caregiver and higher care burden increases the level of anxiety and depression in caregivers. Therefore, caregivers of AD patients need education and social support to ease the burden of care.