BURDEN ASSESSMENT AND QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG CAREGIVERS FOR ALZHEIMER’S PATIENTS

Background The burden associated with caring for Alzheimer's patients not only affects the health of family caregivers and increases their mortality risk, but also reduces the quality of caregiving . Aim: To assess burden and quality of life of caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients . Design : A cross-sectional descriptive research design was applied. Setting : This study was carried out at neurologic outpatient clinics of psychiatric hospital in Port Said city. Subjects: A Purposive sample of all family caregivers of Alzheimer's patients (110) were included. Tools of data collection : Family Caregivers' Socio-Demographic Information Questionnaire; Caregivers' Burden Scale; and Short Form Health-Related Quality of Scale were used. Results: Mean age of caregivers was 41.36 ± 12.74 and more than two-thirds of them were females. Also, physical burden was the most prevalent at 19.45±3.47 among caregivers. Furthermore, the highest percentage 71.8% of caregivers reported having poor quality of life concerning limitations of activities. Additionally, there was a highly statistically significant positive correlation between the total quality of care of caregivers of Alzheimer's patients with caregiver's total burden assessment at P<0.05. Conclusion: Total burden assessment among the caregivers of Alzheimer's patients was 51.43±9.20; with a higher percentage of the caregivers of Alzheimer patients had the total average quality of life, while a lower percentage of the caregivers of Alzheimer patients had a total average good quality of life. Recommendations : Continuous health educations programs for caregivers of Alzheimer's patients are necessary needed and further studies using a large study sample size in different settings are highly recommended.