Relationship between Caregiving Burden, knowledge and stigma of Caregivers Caring for Older Adults with Alzheimer disease

Abstract

Background: the level of burden is associated with severity of Alzheimer disease, frequency, andintensity of care, and absence of help. In many cases, mostly all members of the family become astigma victim and could have feelings of shame about the disease. Aim: the aim of the study was toassess relationship between caregiving burden, knowledge and stigma of caregivers caring for olderadults with Alzheimer disease. Design: the researchers used a descriptive-correlational crosssectional design to complete the study. Subjects: A convenience sample of 108 family caregivers ofthe older adults diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease covered a period of one year (from 1st of May2019 till 1st of June Settings: This study was carried out in the general hospital at patient clinic andAssociation of Alzheimer Patients at Mansoura city, Dekahlia governorate. Tools: Four tools wereused to collect the data namely; Demographic and clinical data structure interview schedule sheet,The Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS) and The StigmaImpact Scale (SIS): Results: The mean age of caregivers was 44.93 ± 9.135. And more than two-thirds of the study sample were females, while the mean age of elderly was (75.32 ± 5.901). Andabove half of the study subject were male (69.4%). A strong positive correlation was found betweencaregiver's burden and stigma. Conclusion: A statistical significance relation was found betweenall sociodemographic characteristics of family caregivers and each of caregiving burden, stigma,and knowledge. A strong positive correlation was found between caregiver's burden and stigma.Recommendations: Educational program for family caregivers not only about the disease processes,but also the way to manage symptoms, experiences, detect resources that could lower the level ofcaregiving burden, improve their knowledge and reduce sense of stigmatization.