Caregiver Burden Among Informal Caregivers of Persons Living with HIV/AIDS in Liangshan Prefecture, China

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographic Characteristics of Caregivers, and the Univariate Analysis of Caregiver Burden

Characteristics	Frequency (%)/Mean ±SD	Caregiver Burden (Mean ±SD)	r/t/F	P
Age	37.78±11.18	40.61±14.47	0.208^a	0.002
Gender			–0.824^b	0.411
Male	110 (49.5)	39.80±13.98
Female	112 (50.5)	41.40±14.95
Ethnic group			1.069^b	0.286
Han	6 (2.7)	46.83±11.84
Yi	216 (97.3)	40.44±14.52
Educational level			0.517^c	0.723
Illiteracy	159 (71.6)	41.14±15.27
Primary school	37 (16.7)	40.97±12.86
Middle school	15 (6.8)	36.27±8.84
High school	7 (3.2)	37.43±14.82
College and above	4 (1.8)	37.75±14.20
Marital status			4.133^c	0.007
Single	18 (8.1)	36.00±12.46
Married/cohabited	180 (81.1)	39.89±14.47
Divorced/separated	17 (7.7)	47.94±12.86
Widowed	7 (3.2)	53.14±12.93
Employment status			1.984^b	0.049
Employed	204 (91.9)	41.18±14.57
Unemployed	18 (8.1)	34.17±11.74
Health status			−3.230^b	0.001
Good health	121 (54.5)	37.80±15.33
Poor health	101 (45.5)	43.97±12.63
Relationship to PLWHA			4.870^c	0.001
Spouse/sex partner	122 (55.0)	40.61±13.20
Child	21 (9.5)	44.24±15.50
Parent	22 (9.9)	49.77±10.18
Sibling	28 (12.6)	38.14±16.72
Others	29 (13.1)	33.38±15.62
Care willingness			1.570^c	0.183
Adequately willing	83 (37.4)	38.24±13.69
Willing	88 (39.6)	41.82±14.94
So-so	30 (13.5)	40.33±13.52
Unwilling	20 (9.0)	46.05±16.01
Extremely unwilling	1 (0.5)	30.00
The level of knowledge to AIDS			4.043^c	0.008
Know nothing	125 (56.3)	41.41±15.21
Know a few	72 (32.4)	42.42±11.50
Know a lot	23 (10.4)	31.30±14.78
Totally know	2 (0.9)	32.50±30.41

Notes: ^aSpearman rank correlation analysis, ^bIndependent sample t-test, ^cOne-way ANOVA.

Abbreviations: SD, standard deviation; PLWHA, person living with HIV/AIDS.

Table 2 Caregiver Burden Experienced by Informal Caregivers

Caregiver Burden (Score Range)	Frequency (%)	Mean (SD)
Little or no burden (0–20)	23(10.4)
Mild to moderate burden (21–40)	85(38.3)
Moderate to severe burden (41–60)	98 (44.1)
Severe burden (61–88)	16 (7.2)
personal strain		20.93±7.84
role strain		10.08±6.09
Total score		40.61±14.47

Abbreviation: SD, standard deviation.

Table 3 The Correlation Between Caregiving Ability and Caregiver Burden

	Mean±SD	r	P
CTI score	17.46±7.71	0.513	<0.001
Learning to cope with new role	4.59±2.22	0.097	0.149
Providing care according to care-receiver’s needs	3.42±2.09	0.365	<0.001
Managing own emotional needs	2.98±2.43	0.428	<0.001
Appraising supportive resources	3.49±2.17	0.361	<0.001
Balancing caregiving needs and one’s own needs	2.99±2.37	0.580	<0.001

Abbreviations: SD, standard deviation; CTI, the Caregiver Task Inventory.

Table 4 Multiple Regression on Caregiver Burden of Informal Caregivers of PLWHA

	B	SEE	Standardized Coefficients (β)	95% CI	t	P
Constant	14.177	3.342		7.590, 20.765	4.242	<0.001
Age	0.205	0.068	0.159	0.071, 0.340	3.007	0.003
Health status (reference: good health)	4.694	1.495	0.162	1.748, 7.641	3.141	0.002
Relationship to PLWHA (reference: spouse)
Parent	8.348	2.481	0.173	3.458, 13.238	3.365	0.001
Balancing caregiving needs and one’s own needs	2.811	0.369	0.460	2.084, 3.538	7.618	<0.001
Managing own emotional needs	0.883	0.356	0.148	0.182, 1.584	2.482	0.014
R^2=0.435; adjusted R^2=0.422

Abbreviations: PLWHA, person living with HIV/AIDS; SEE, standard errors of estimation; CI, confidence interval.