Factors contributing to caregiver burden in dementia in a country without formal caregiver support.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate caregiver burden in dementia and explore factors associated with different types of burden in a country without formal caregiver support using a province in China as a case.

METHOD

Cross-sectional questionnaire survey was used to collect data. One hundred and fifty-two family caregivers of people with dementia in community settings were recruited from 2012 to 2013 using convenience sampling. Objective burden was measured by caregiving hours and dementia-related financial burden. Subjective burden was measured and analysed using the Caregiver Burden Inventory and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Questionnaire. Multivariate regression models were employed to analyse factors associated with each type of subjective burden.

RESULTS

Five types of subjective burden were measured by the Caregiver Burden Inventory, namely, physical burden, emotional burden, time-dependence burden, developmental burden, and social burden. Caregiver distress, as a subjective burden, was measured by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Questionnaire and reported by relating to the severity of care recipients' behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. This caregiver cohort showed a high level of physical, time-dependence, and developmental burdens, but a low level of emotional and social burdens. Factors contributing to each type of subjective burden measured by the Caregiver Burden Inventory differed from each other.

CONCLUSION

The high level of objective and subjective burdens identified in this study suggests that government-funded formal caregiver support should be established and services should be designed to target different types of burdens and factors contributing to these burdens.