Faculty of Education, Engineering and Nursing, Nord-Trondelag University College, Levanger, Norway.
Aging Ment Health. 2011 Apr;15(3):318-26. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2010.519319. Epub 2010 Dec 6.
The interplay between personality, mental health and type of disease in explaining caring burden was studied in home-dwelling cohabitants of partners with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or dementia.
A cross-sectional study including 206 participants with 80% response rate. Neuroticism was assessed by Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and externality by Locus of Control of Behaviour. The Relative Stress Scale evaluated caring burden. Mental health was determined by the General Health Quality (GHQ-28) questionnaire.
Neuroticism and type of illness played a major role in explaining caring burden and mental health. In the COPD and dementia groups, 30.5% and 58.4%, respectively, were above the cut-off point for psychiatric caseness on the GHQ. Both groups had low scores for depression and high scores for social dysfunction, anxiety, insomnia and somatisation. Compared to the dementia group, the COPD group had lower scores and fairly stable levels on all subscales of the GHQ. Females had higher scores on somatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia; they also reported higher scores on neuroticism and externality.
Differences in personality and illness explained both caring burden and mental health among caregivers. To mitigate the caring burden and mental health problems among home-dwelling caregivers, public health services need to take into account the personality and gender of the caregiver, and also the disease of the ill partner.
本研究旨在探讨人格、心理健康和疾病类型在解释慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）或痴呆症患者的家庭同住者的照顾负担中的相互作用。
本研究为一项横断面研究，共纳入 206 名参与者，应答率为 80%。神经质通过艾森克人格问卷（EPQ）评估，行为控制的外控性通过行为控制量表评估。相对压力量表评估照顾负担。心理健康通过一般健康问卷（GHQ-28）评估。
神经质和疾病类型在解释照顾负担和心理健康方面起着重要作用。在 COPD 和痴呆症组中，分别有 30.5%和 58.4%的患者 GHQ 得分超过了精神病的临界值。两个组的抑郁得分都较低，而社会功能障碍、焦虑、失眠和躯体化得分较高。与痴呆症组相比，COPD 组在 GHQ 的所有子量表上的得分都较低，且水平较为稳定。女性在躯体症状、焦虑和失眠方面的得分较高；她们的神经质和外控性得分也较高。
人格和疾病的差异解释了照顾者的照顾负担和心理健康。为了减轻家庭照顾者的照顾负担和心理健康问题，公共卫生服务需要考虑照顾者的人格和性别，以及患病伴侣的疾病类型。
