Aloudiny Wejdan Homid, Alsaran Ftoon Fahad, Alessa Fawziah Muqbil, Almoayad Fatmah, Fiala Lamiaa
Department of Health Sciences, College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia.
Healthcare (Basel). 2024 Sep 14;12(18):1851. doi: 10.3390/healthcare12181851.
Caregiver burden is an important issue for individuals who tend to be chronically ill, disabled or elderly family members. This burden affects caregivers around the world and can have a negative impact on their physical and mental health, ultimately reducing their quality of life.
This study of informal adult caregivers in Saudi Arabia used a cross-sectional analytic design to explore the connections between caregiver burden, social support and quality of life. Data were collected using nonprobability convenience sampling through electronic questionnaires in Arabic. The Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZBI-12), the Oslo Social Support Scale (OSSS-3) and the SF-12 Health Survey (short form of 12 questions) were used to assess caregiver burden, social support and quality of life, respectively. The relationships between these variables were analysed, and the statistical significance of the findings was reported.
The study revealed a connection between caregiver burden and both social support and quality of life. Caregivers with moderate to high burdens often had poor social support (60.52%) and a lower quality of life (72.47%). A statistically significant negative correlation between caregiver burden and quality of life ( < 0.05) indicated that caregivers with a higher burden had a lower quality of life. Similarly, a statistically significant negative correlation was found between social support and caregiver burden ( < 0.05), suggesting that caregivers with more social support experienced a lower burden.
A higher caregiver burden is linked to a lower quality of life, especially when social support is inadequate. These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to reduce caregiver burden by enhancing social support systems for caregivers and improving their quality of life. Recommendations include the development of community-based support programmes and policy changes to support informal caregivers.
对于那些需要照顾慢性病患者、残疾人士或老年家庭成员的人来说，照顾者负担是一个重要问题。这种负担影响着世界各地的照顾者，会对他们的身心健康产生负面影响，最终降低他们的生活质量。
本研究针对沙特阿拉伯的成年非正式照顾者，采用横断面分析设计来探究照顾者负担、社会支持与生活质量之间的联系。通过阿拉伯语电子问卷，采用非概率便利抽样收集数据。分别使用 Zarit 照顾者负担访谈量表（ZBI - 12）、奥斯陆社会支持量表（OSSS - 3）和 SF - 12 健康调查（12 题简版）来评估照顾者负担、社会支持和生活质量。分析了这些变量之间的关系，并报告了研究结果的统计学意义。
该研究揭示了照顾者负担与社会支持及生活质量之间的联系。负担为中度至高度的照顾者往往社会支持较差（60.52%）且生活质量较低（72.47%）。照顾者负担与生活质量之间存在统计学显著负相关（<0.05），表明负担较重的照顾者生活质量较低。同样，社会支持与照顾者负担之间也存在统计学显著负相关（<0.05），这表明社会支持较多的照顾者负担较轻。
照顾者负担越高，生活质量越低，尤其是在社会支持不足时。这些发现凸显了采取针对性干预措施的必要性，即通过加强照顾者的社会支持系统和改善他们的生活质量来减轻照顾者负担。建议包括制定基于社区的支持项目以及进行政策变革以支持非正式照顾者。
