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Caregiver burden in mild cognitive impairment
- Authors:
- PARADISE Matt, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 19(1), 2014, pp.72-78.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Objectives: This study reports the prevalence of significant levels of burden amongst caregivers of people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), compared to informants of control-participants. Secondly it identifies which factors are associated with significant levels of burden: patient characteristics (including depressive symptoms, cognition and informant ratings of cognitive and behavioural change); caregiver characteristics; or the caregiving context. Method: Sixty-four participants with MCI, 36 control-participants and their respective caregivers/informants were recruited to a university research clinic. The proportion of those who showed clinically significant levels of burden was determined by a Zarit Burden Interview score of >21. Multivariate analyses were performed to examine the relative contribution of individual variables to burden amongst MCI-caregivers. Results: Thirty six per cent of MCI-caregivers reported clinically significant levels of burden, twice that of the control informant group. Participant behavioural problems contribute most to burden, with participant depression and possibly cognition also having a significant association. Conclusion: Caregiver burden is a considerable problem in MCI and shares some of the same characteristics as caregiver burden in dementia, namely a strong association with challenging behaviours in the patient. This has implications for further research and intervention studies. (Edited publisher abstract)