Brites Rute, Brandão Tânia, Nunes Odete, Hipólito João, Pires Catarina Tomé
CIP-UAL, Psychology Department, Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
William James Center for Research, ISPA-Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal.
J Clin Psychol Med Settings. 2025 Jun;32(2):325-335. doi: 10.1007/s10880-024-10052-2. Epub 2024 Oct 25.
Caregiving is a complex occupation, with a significant impact for informal caregivers (IC). Stress-process models propose a framework that considers that this impact depends on primary and secondary stressors, but also on the IC situation appraisal. This work aimed to verify: whether being, or not, an IC of an individual with dementia influenced the relationship between family functioning and burnout; the association between neuropsychiatric symptoms of the individual with dementia and IC burnout and whether the IC burden and perceived family functioning had a mediating role in such relationship. This cross-sectional study investigated differences in family functioning and its association with burnout between IC and non-IC. For IC specifically, the study examined a mediation model to explore the possibility of neuropsychiatric symptoms indirectly affecting IC burnout through the impact on family functioning and burden. Measures included the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, the McMaster Family Assessment Device, the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, and the Zarit Burden Interview. Results showed an association between poorer family function and high burnout, specifically in IC. They also showed that burden mediated the relationship between neuropsychiatric symptoms and burnout. The findings offer a significant contribution to the growing knowledge about the relationship between stressors associated with informal caregiving in dementia context, such as neuropsychiatric symptoms and its outcomes, like burnout.
照护是一项复杂的工作，对非正式照护者（IC）有重大影响。压力过程模型提出了一个框架，该框架认为这种影响不仅取决于主要和次要压力源，还取决于IC的情境评估。这项研究旨在验证：作为痴呆症患者的IC与否是否会影响家庭功能与倦怠之间的关系；痴呆症患者的神经精神症状与IC倦怠之间的关联，以及IC负担和感知到的家庭功能在这种关系中是否起中介作用。这项横断面研究调查了IC和非IC在家庭功能方面的差异及其与倦怠的关联。具体针对IC，该研究检验了一个中介模型，以探讨神经精神症状通过对家庭功能和负担的影响间接影响IC倦怠的可能性。测量工具包括哥本哈根倦怠量表、麦克马斯特家庭评估工具、神经精神科问卷和扎里特负担访谈。结果显示，较差的家庭功能与高倦怠之间存在关联，尤其是在IC中。研究还表明，负担在神经精神症状与倦怠之间的关系中起中介作用。这些发现为痴呆症背景下与非正式照护相关的压力源（如神经精神症状）及其后果（如倦怠）之间关系的日益增长的知识做出了重大贡献。
