Caregiving Appraisal and Coping Strategies for Family Caregivers of Persons with Dementia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of caregiving appraisals and coping strategies for family caregivers of persons with dementia. The method used to assess 401 primary caregivers who live with and care for the relatives with dementia was a questionnaire administered by day-care centers. The response rate was 60.3% (N=242).
The result showed that the caregivers who were able to cope with persons with dementia had high positive appraisal (p=.000), low negative appraisal (p=.001), and were utilizing various coping strategies (p=.000). The caregivers who were unable to manage the symptoms of dementia responded mainly by answering "do not understand the symptoms of dementia" (p=.000), and "do not have a person to consult" (p=.032). As for the relation between caregiving appraisals and the coping strategies, the positive appraisal had relatively positive correlation with the coping strategies (p<.01), and the negative appraisal had rather negative correlation with such strategies (p<.01).
These findings suggest that in order to increase positive appraisals and diminish negative appraisals, it is needed to assist caregivers to become capable of handling the symptoms of dementia, and to utilize various coping strategies.