Explorations of Caregiver Health and Well‐Being
Maria E Anderson- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
- Geriatrics and Gerontology
- Neurology (clinical)
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Health Policy
- Epidemiology
Abstract
Background
Recent projections have found that the global prevalence of dementia is expected to grow rapidly through 2050, rising from an estimated 57.4 million cases in 2019 to an estimated 152.8 million cases by 2050. This has alarming public health consequences, as dementia takes a toll socially, emotionally, and financially, with a global societal cost of $1.3 trillion dollars in 2019. Caregivers are at the forefront of this crisis, with more than 11 million individuals in the US providing unpaid care for individuals with dementia, estimated at 16 billion dollars worth of care/year. Studies investigating the factors that impact caregiver burden are lacking. This study aims to 1) qualitatively examine caregiver burden and quality of life (QoL) 2) identify/highlight factors that might provide support and/or improve caregiver QoL.
Method
This is a qualitative, cross‐sectional study that will use a series of interviews and questionnaires to collect data. The studies will be created on, and deployed using, Qualtrics software, a commonly used platform for survey studies.
Result
Previous research suggests that factors impacting caregiver burden and QoL will be highly individualized across demographics such as socioeconomic status and race, and that QoL will be, on average, lower among caregivers as a group compared to the general population. We hypothesize that engagement in various lifestyle factors, particularly those that are self‐focused, regardless of amount of time spent on them, will correlate with higher QoL and lower caregiver burden scores.
Conclusion
The factors that predict caregiver burden and quality of life are an important and often under‐examined part of dementia care. This study, expected to be completed in Spring 2023, will contribute to the current understanding of caregiver’s experiences, and provide practical ideas to help increase QoL and reduce burden.