Sources of Management Burden and Solutions among Primary Family Caregivers of the Alzheimer's Disease Patient: a Qualitative Study

Background: Alzheimer's disease is commonly seen in older people in China,in particular,its prevalence reaches 5.14% in those aged over 65 years,bringing huge management burden to primary family caregivers of the patient. It has received extensive attention worldwide. Objective: To investigate the sources of management burden and major solutions among primary family caregivers of the Alzheimer's disease patient, providing a basis for further development of the family management system for such patients. Methods: By use of purposive sampling,the primary family caregivers of 12 re-examined outpatients with Alzheimer's disease were recruited from Hangzhou Seventh People's Hospital and Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of TCM from September to December 2018 were recruited,and were interviewed intensively using a phenomenological approach. Colaizzi's seven-step analysis was performed to analyze the interview results. Results: Five subthemes of management burden sources of the primary family caregivers for the Alzheimer's disease patient were summarized as follows: lack of sufficient care knowledge to cope with the patient's complex conditions, social burden, emotional burden, physical burden and unappreciated care. For the solutions to the management burden, two themes of caregiver self-management strategies and patient family management strategies with six subthemes such as rational acceptance and active accommodation and so on arose. Conclusion: Medical professionals and others need to provide effective emotional support and adequate care knowledge for primary family caregivers for the Alzheimer's disease patient to help them form effective family management strategies. At the same time, the diversified long-term care system should be improved to reduce the burden of care.