Department of Neuropsychiatry,Keio University School of Medicine,Tokyo,Japan.
Department of Health Policy and Management,Keio University School of Medicine,Tokyo,Japan.
Int Psychogeriatr. 2018 Aug;30(8):1089-1098. doi: 10.1017/S1041610217002289. Epub 2017 Nov 10.
ABSTRACTBackground:Caregivers of people with dementia are likely to have psychological distress that sometimes results in mental health problems, such as depression. The objective of this study was to examine some predictive factors that are thought to be associated with psychological distress of caregivers of people with dementia in Japan.
Design: A cross-sectional study.
As part of a study to estimate the cost of dementia in Japan, 1,437 people with dementia-caregiver dyads were enrolled in the current informal care time study. The measurements in the study included were the basic characteristics of the caregivers and the people with dementia, and the informal care time during a week.
Factors that predict caregivers' psychological distress, which was measured by Kessler's Psychological Distress scale (K6) score, were evaluated using univariate and multivariate regression analyses.
Approximately 69% of the caregivers recorded a K6 score higher than 4, while 18% scored higher than 12. According to the results of the logistic regression analysis (cut-off 4/5), the K6 score was associated with mental and comorbid diseases of people with dementia, informal care time, its lower number of caregivers, and the level of nursing care. According to the results of logistic regression analysis (cut-off 12/13), the K6 score was associated with mental symptoms and comorbid disease of people with dementia, sex of caregivers, informal care time, and its lower number of caregivers.
Our findings indicated that the psychological distress of the caregivers is quite high and that informal care time and behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia are associated with it. These results corroborate with previous findings.
摘要背景：痴呆患者的照顾者可能会有心理困扰，有时会导致心理健康问题，如抑郁症。本研究的目的是研究一些被认为与日本痴呆患者照顾者心理困扰相关的预测因素。方法：设计：横断面研究。样本：作为在日本估计痴呆症成本研究的一部分，1437 对痴呆症-照顾者二人组被纳入当前的非正规护理时间研究。研究中的测量包括照顾者和痴呆症患者的基本特征，以及一周内的非正规护理时间。分析：使用单变量和多变量回归分析评估了预测照顾者心理困扰的因素，该因素通过 Kessler 心理困扰量表（K6）评分来衡量。结果：大约 69%的照顾者的 K6 评分高于 4，而 18%的评分高于 12。根据逻辑回归分析的结果（截断值为 4/5），K6 评分与痴呆症患者的精神和合并疾病、非正规护理时间、护理人数较少以及护理水平有关。根据逻辑回归分析的结果（截断值为 12/13），K6 评分与痴呆症患者的精神症状和合并疾病、照顾者的性别、非正规护理时间以及护理人数较少有关。结论：我们的研究结果表明，照顾者的心理困扰相当高，非正规护理时间和行为及心理症状的痴呆症与心理困扰有关。这些结果与以前的研究结果一致。
