Predictors of quality of life among primary caregivers of dementia elderly

초록

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the predictors of quality of life of caregivers as the basis for improving the QOL among caregiver of elderly with dementia. Methods: Eighty four dementia elderly caregivers were recruited for this study. Participants were a family member or significant other who took care of the elderly inmost of time. Korean version of WHO Qality of Life-Brief, Revised version of Caregiver Burden Inventory, Medical Outcome study Social Support Survey, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and Neuropsychiatry Inventory questionnarie were administrated. Result: Mean age of the subjects was 56.73 years. The overall QOL score was 75.61. Subjective health score was 3.17 and ADL score of dementia elderly was 9.38. The change of family relationship score was 15.83 and care burden score was 29.58. Social support score was 60.53 and depression score was 22.73. In addition, seriousness of behavior of dementia elderly was 14.20 and the score of suffering from the neuropsychiatric behavior was 17.14. In multiple regression analysis, the significant factors influencing QOL of the caregiver were depression, ADL function, social support, subjective health, and daily mean care time. These five variables explained about 67percent of variance of QOL.