Mohammad Sadegh Sargolzaei, Daniyal Kohestani, Tahereh Alsadat Khoubbin Khoshnazar, Hossein Asghari Asl
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Being a chronic and prevalent disease in older adults, Alzheimer’s disease requires extensive and long-term care from caregivers. The disease significantly increases the burden on family caregivers and can cause physical and mental disorders for them, ultimately hindering their ability to provide adequate care for the patients. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to determine the relationship between care burden and health anxiety among the family caregivers of the older adults with Alzheimer’s disease. Materials and Methods: A correlational cross-sectional study enrolled 150 family caregivers who had been providing direct care to older adults with Alzheimer’s disease for at least six months, chosen by continuous sampling. The study collected data using the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) and Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI-18) at the Iranian Alzheimer’s Association in 2021. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 25, employing independent t-tests, analysis of variance, and regression analysis. Results: The results indicated that 75 (50%) caregivers had a moderate level of health anxiety, while 43.3% of them reported being anxious about their health to a poor degree. Additionally, 46.6% and 43.3% of caregivers experienced moderate and intense care burden, respectively. Among the other variables studied such as age, sex, level of education, marital status, and economic status, only health anxiety was found to predict the care burden in caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (P < 0.001). (CI95% Health anxiety: 52.80–58.81, CI95% Care burden: 71.89–79.90, R2: 11.9%). Conclusion: Since there is a significant relationship observed between health anxiety and care burden, it is important for health professionals and caregivers of older adults with Alzheimer’s disease to prioritize the health of the caregivers. This requires special attention from healthcare providers.
期刊介绍:
As a quarterly peer-reviewed journal that has existed for over three decades, Ageing International serves all professionals who deal with complex ageing issues. The journal is dedicated to improving the life of ageing populations worldwide through providing an intellectual forum for communicating common concerns, exchanging analyses and discoveries in scientific research, crystallizing significant issues, and offering recommendations in ageing-related service delivery and policy making. Besides encouraging the submission of high-quality research and review papers, Ageing International seeks to bring together researchers, policy analysts, and service program administrators who are committed to reducing the ''implementation gap'' between good science and effective service, between evidence-based protocol and culturally suitable programs, and between unique innovative solutions and generalizable policies. For significant issues that are common across countries, Ageing International will organize special forums for scholars and investigators from different disciplines to present their regional perspectives as well as to provide more comprehensive analysis. The editors strongly believe that such discourse has the potential to foster a wide range of coordinated efforts that will lead to improvements in the quality of life of older persons worldwide. Abstracted and Indexed in:
ABI/INFORM, Academic OneFile, Academic Search, CSA/Proquest, Current Abstracts, EBSCO, Ergonomics Abstracts, Expanded Academic, Gale, Google Scholar, Health Reference Center Academic, OCLC, PsychINFO, PsyARTICLES, SCOPUS, Social Science Abstracts, and Summon by Serial Solutions.