1999 Volume 2 Issue 1 Pages 32-40
The purpose of this study was to clarify the factors related to care burden in the main family caregiver for elderly people with dementia living at home, and to gather basic data aimed at developing measures to deal with behavior disturbances in senile dementia. We distributed questionnaires to 177 caregivers of elderly people with dementia at home. The results were as follows:
1）A factorial analysis found 9 factors on behavioral disturbance.
2）There was a significant correlation between care burden of the caregivers and elderly people’s activities of daily living（ADL）, the severity of dementia, and behavioral disturbance.
3）Care burden was significantly higher in caregivers who were not healthy, who had a bad relationship with elderly people or who had to give care for more than three hours a day than in caregivers who did not. There was a tendency for caregivers who did not have someone to help them to have more care burden than caregivers who did.
4）Results of the multiple regression analysis indicated that behavioral disturbance, ADL, helpers for the caregiver, the nature of the relationship with elderly people and the amount of time given to caregiving each day were significant factors for care burden. Behavioral disturbance was the most significant factor influencing care burden.
