Factors affecting the quality of life of family carers of people with dementia: the role of carer anxiety

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of the sample (N = 89).

Family carer characteristics
Age (in years)	69.1	(± 12.5)
Gender (Female %)	67.4
Educational Level %
Unfinished Primary School	1.1
Primary school	4.5
Secondary school	40.4
Vocational diploma	27.0
Bachelor’s degree	20.2
Master’s degree	5.6
PhD	1.1
Type of relationship %
Wife	40.4
Husband	28.1
Daughter	25.8
Son	4.5
Sister	1.1
Living with the care recipient (yes %)	73.0
Ongoing health conditions reported (yes %)	58.4
Characteristics of people with dementia
Dementia type
Alzheimer’s %	44.9
Mixed %	18.0
Vascular %	14.6
Frontotemporal %	7.9
Lewy bodies %	5.6
Unknown %	6.7
Other %	2.2
Years since diagnosis	3.6	(± 2.4)
Dementia Severity %
Mild	5.6
Moderate	30.3
Severe	46.1
Very severe	18.0

Table 2. Pearson’s correlations among independent and dependent variables and means and standard deviations (N = 89).

Variables	1	2	3	4	M (SD)
1 Quality of life (ICECAP-O: 0–1)	-				0.73 (0.16)
2 Carer Depression (PHQ-9: 0–27)	−0.53*	-			7.22 (6.31)
3 Carer Anxiety (GAD-7: 0–21)	−0.55*	0.81*	-		6.10 (5.66)
4 Carer Burden (1–6)	−0.19	0.35*	0.28*		4.31 (1.66)
5 Neuropsychiatric symptoms (MBI-C: 0–102)	−0.22*	0.25*	0.26*	0.26*	30.06 (18.00)

*P < 0.05. ICECAP-O high scores denote a better quality of life; PHQ-9 high scores denote more symptoms of depression; GAD-7 high scores denote more symptoms of anxiety; Burden high scores denote more hours devoted to caregiving; MBI-C high scores denote more neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Table 3. Results of multiple regression analysis (N = 89).

Predictors	Carer Quality of life			95% CI
	β	t	P	Lower	Upper
Neuropsychiatric symptoms	−0.08	−0.80	0.43	−0.26	0.11
Carer’ depression	−0.25	−1.59	0.12	−0.55	0.06
Carer’s objective burden	0.01	0.08	0.93	−0.18	0.20
Carer’s anxiety	−0.34	−2.22	0.03	−0.64	−0.04
F	10.45
d.f.	4
R^2	0.33

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [NK], upon reasonable request.