Contributors and Moderators of Quality of Life in Caregivers of Alzheimer´s Disease Patients

ABSTRACT

Aim and objective: This study aimed to identify the variables that contributed to Quality of Life (QoL) of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) caregivers, taking into consideration the caregiving context, stressors, role strains, and resources.

Methods: The sample included 102 caregivers of AD patients who answered the following instruments: Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21; Satisfaction with Social Support Scale; Revised Memory and Behavioral Problems Checklist; Family Communication and Satisfaction Scales; Spiritual and Religious Attitudes in Dealing with Illness; and Quality of Life in Alzheimer’s Disease – Caregiver Version.

Results: Caregivers who were employed, chose the caregiving role, and received help in caring showed better QoL. Also, being younger, less caregiving daily hours, caring for patients with less memory and behavior problems, lower distress, and family satisfaction predicted better QoL. Finally, spirituality was a moderator between family communication and QoL but not between family satisfaction and QoL.

Conclusion: Caregiving-context variables (age, professional status, choosing to care, receiving help in the caregiving role and duration of daily care); role strains (family dissatisfaction); stressors (caregivers’ distress and patients’ memory and behavioral problems); and resources (spirituality) had an impact on caregivers’ QoL emphasizing the adequacy of the Stress Process Model. Intervention should also focus on spirituality given its moderating role.

Authors Contributions

MGP was responsible for the study design, data analysis, data interpretation and manuscript review; ARA and DR were responsible for data acquisition, manuscript preparation, and data interpretation; GF and SL were responsible for data analysis, data interpretation, manuscript review. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Acknowledgments

The authors want to thank the research participants and the hospital staff and administrators of the Centro Hospitalar do Alto Ave (CHAA), Hospital de S. João (CHSJ) and Hospital Tâmega and Sousa (CHTS), who made this study possible.

Conflicts Of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of Tâmega and Sousa Hospital (Ref. number: 18/13-P.CES); Alto Ave Hospital (Ref. number: 65/CES); and S. João Hospital (Ref. number: 166/13_hsj).

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.