Family Quality of Life: Perspectives of Family Caregivers of People with Dementia

Abstract

Aims: Most caregiving literature focuses on individual-level outcomes, with sparse knowledge on family-level outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the family quality of life (FQOL) of people with dementia and identify factors that influence their FQOL, as perceived by family caregivers. Methods: A convenience sample of 31 family caregivers of people with dementia was interviewed using a modified version of the Family Quality of Life Survey (FQOLS-2006). Statistical analyses were conducted to examine domain level and global FQOL outcomes. Results: Although caregivers reported the highest level of attainment in the domain of family health, they were also least satisfied with this domain. Global FQOL was significantly associated with caregiver health, care-recipient co-morbidities of psychological and motor problems, and three (health, leisure, community) of the nine FQOL domain level outcomes. Conclusion: Encouraging families to increase leisure participation can improve their health and global FQOL.

Keywords:

• Family quality of life
• dementia
• caregivers
• health
• leisure
• community participation

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the funding received from the Martha Schnebly Endowed Research Fund and the Faculty Research Award Program of the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Wayne State University. We are grateful to the Alzheimer’s Association Greater Michigan Chapter for their partnership in participant recruitment and data collection. We also thank all the student research assistants from the Master of Occupational Therapy program, particularly Erin Skotzke, Heather Diacono, and Khurshid Hassan for assisting with data collection and preliminary data analyses.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethics statement

All study procedures were reviewed and approved by the obtaining the Human Investigation Committee of the Institutional Review Board of Wayne State University: Protocol # 094711B3E.