The Psychological and Health Consequences of Caring for a Spouse With Dementia: A Critical Comparison of Husbands and Wives

Abstract

Caring for someone with dementia can be demanding, particularly for spouses living with the care recipient. The main goal of this study was to clarify differences in the experience of caregivers who were husbands and wives with respect to burden, health, healthy behaviors, presence of difficult care recipient behaviors, social supports, and the quality of the premorbid relationship. The results of this study support research demonstrating a difference between the caregiving experiences of women and men. It is becoming increasingly apparent that female gender is a marker that places them at increased risk of high burden and less support.

Keywords:

• caregiver
• health
• dementia
• premorbid relationship
• burden
• aggressive behavior

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Michel Bédard was a Canada Research Chair in Aging and Health (http://www.chairs.gc.ca) when this manuscript was completed; he acknowledges the support of the Canada Research Chair Program.