Department of Psychiatric Nursing and Mental Health, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
Fundamentals of Nursing Department, College of Nursing, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
Front Public Health. 2022 Oct 25;10:1012311. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1012311. eCollection 2022.
Patients with dementia express a set of problematic and deteriorating symptoms, along with self-care dependency. Over time, the mental health of family caregivers of persons with dementia may be affected, putting them at a high risk for psychopathology, which may be associated with endangered wellbeing of people with dementia. This cross-sectional instrumental design study examined the psychometric properties of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 8-items (DASS-8), DASS-12, and DASS-21 in a convenient sample of 571 caregivers from northern Italy and southern Switzerland (mean age = 53 years, SD = 12, range = 24-89 years). A bifactor structure of the three measures had the best fit; some items of the DASS-12/DASS-21 failed to load on their domain-specific factors. The three-factor structure was invariant across various groups (e.g., gender and education), expressed adequate reliability and convergent validity, and had strong positive correlation with the three-item UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLALS3). Distress scores did not differ among carers of different types of dementia (Alzheimer's disease vs. other types, e.g., vascular dementia). However, distress scores were significantly high among female individuals, adult children caregivers, those caring for dependent patients, and those who received help with care. For 54.9 and 38.8% of the latter, care was provided by relatives and health professionals, respectively. Since the DASS-8 expresses adequate psychometrics comparable with the DASS-21, it may be used as a brief measure of distress in this population.
痴呆患者表现出一系列有问题和恶化的症状，以及自我护理依赖。随着时间的推移，痴呆患者家庭成员照顾者的心理健康可能会受到影响，使他们面临精神病理学的高风险，这可能与痴呆患者的福祉受到威胁有关。本横断面仪器设计研究在意大利北部和瑞士南部的 571 名方便样本的照顾者中（平均年龄 = 53 岁，SD = 12，范围为 24-89 岁），考察了抑郁焦虑压力量表 8 项（DASS-8）、DASS-12 和 DASS-21 的心理测量特性。这三个测量工具的双因素结构具有最佳的拟合度；DASS-12/DASS-21 的一些项目未能加载到其特定领域的因素上。三因素结构在不同群体中具有不变性（例如，性别和教育），表现出足够的可靠性和收敛效度，并且与三个项目的 UCLA 孤独量表（UCLALS3）具有很强的正相关。不同类型痴呆（阿尔茨海默病与其他类型，如血管性痴呆）的照顾者的痛苦评分没有差异。然而，女性、成年子女照顾者、照顾依赖患者的照顾者以及接受照顾帮助的照顾者的痛苦评分显著较高。对于后者的 54.9%和 38.8%，分别由亲属和卫生专业人员提供照顾。由于 DASS-8 表达了与 DASS-21 相当的心理测量学特性，因此它可以作为该人群中痛苦的简短测量工具。
