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Caregiver influences on 'living well' for people with dementia: Findings from the IDEAL study

Yes / Objectives: The capability to 'live well' in people with dementia can be influenced by many factors, including those related to the experiences of their informal caregiver. How caregivers experience their own role can affect not only their well-being but also the way they provide care and hence the experience of the person with dementia. The aim of this study is to identify the potential impact of the caregiver's perception of the caregiving experience on how people with mild to moderate dementia self-rate their QoL, well-being and satisfaction with life.

Method: This study utilised time-point 1 data from 1283 informal caregiver and the 1283 people with dementia whom they provide care from the IDEAL cohort study. Multivariate modelling was used to investigate the associations between measures related to the caregiver's perception of the caregiving experience (caregiving stress, perceived social restrictions, caregiving competence, positive aspects of caregiving, and coping) and the self-ratings of QoL, satisfaction with life, and well-being by the person with dementia.

Results: Lower QoL ratings by the person with dementia were associated with high caregiver stress (−1.98; 95% CI: −2.89, −1.07), high perceived social restrictions (−2.04; 95% CI: −2.94, −1.14) and low caregiving competence (−2.01; 95% CI: −2.95, −1.06). Similar associations were found for satisfaction with life and wellbeing. Positive aspects of caregiving and coping were not associated with outcomes for the person with dementia.

Conclusion: The findings indicate that how the caregiver experiences caregiving can affect the person with dementia. This finding reinforces the importance of providing support to caregivers. / The IDEAL study is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (UK) and the National Institute for Health Research (UK) through grant ES/L001853/2 ‘Improving the experience of dementia and enhancing active life: living well with dementia’.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/17108
Date23 May 2019
CreatorsQuinn, Catherine, Nelis, S.M., Martyr, A., Morris, R.G., Victor, C., Clare, L.
Source SetsBradford Scholars
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeArticle, Published version
Rights© 2019 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), CC-BY

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