Purpose: The objective of this study was to define the predictors of health related quality of life(HRQoL) of women caregivers of the demented elderly patients.
Methods: The subjects of this study were 140 pairs of patients with dementia and their caregivers. The characteristics of dementia patients and caregivers, Barthel index and SF-36 were measured in this study. T-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression were used for data analysis.
Results: The health related quality of life(HRQoL) score of women caregivers was 288.35¡¾ 66.10 for norm based scoring. HRQoL of women caregivers was correlated with patients¡¯ ADL, severity of dementia, caregivers¡¯ age, burden, and family support. The major factors that affected the physical components of women caregivers of patients with dementia was the age of the caregiver, burden, and ADL which explained 36.0% of HRQoL. The main predictors of women caregivers¡¯ emotional state was the caregiver¡¯s burden.
Conclusion: Patients¡¯ support systems must be implemented to improve the physical HRQoL of caregivers. A caregivers¡¯ burden relief program needs to be prepared to increase their emotional HRQoL and further studies and efforts will be needed to evaluate those effects.
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