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Loneliness and Burden Perceived by Family Caregivers of Patients With Alzheimer Disease

Background: The present study aimed at investigating loneliness and burden experienced by family members caring for relatives diagnosed with Alzheimer disease. Methods: Participants were 40 caregivers of inpatients with Alzheimer disease. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted to investigate whether caregivers' loneliness (uni- and multidimensional) and burden are associated with and predicted by (1) specific caregiver characteristics and/or (2) patients' dementia severity and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Results: Loneliness was significantly correlated with caregivers' sex, age, and living circumstances, while burden was significantly correlated with caregivers' education solely. Regression analyses revealed that caregivers' sex and living circumstances contributed significantly to variance explanation of loneliness (but not burden), while the additional consideration of patient variables did not improve model fit. Conclusions: Loneliness reported by caregivers of relatives diagnosed with dementia is significantly modulated by caregiver (but not patient) characteristics. Notably, both uni- and multidimensional loneliness scales seem to be sensitive diagnostic tools.

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Key Information

Type of Reference
Jour
Type of Work
Journal article
Publisher
Sage
ISBN/ISSN
1533-3175
Publication Year
2020
Journal Titles
American Journal of Alzheimers Disease and Other Dementias
Volume Number
35