Study on the care burden and influencing factors of family caregivers for demented older people in China

Description

Ning Sun measures the burden carried by Chinese families caring at home for an older relative with dementia. One hundred community caregivers in Ningbo completed a general questionnaire and a standard burden scale. The group's average score came to about 52 points, roughly fifty-eight percent of the scale's maximum, a solidly felt burden rather than a marginal one.

Regression analysis singled out three drivers. The worse the elder's dementia, the heavier the burden. Accidents in the past year, presumably falls and similar crises, added to it. Family monthly income cut the other way in the model, marking resources as protection. Sun argues that communities should pay deliberate attention to these caregivers, teach dementia nursing skills, and coach them in managing their own lives. Building the caregiver's capacity, Sun argues, is the practical route to lightening the load.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC11713054