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Health conditions in spousal caregivers of people with dementia and their relationships with stress, caregiving experiences, and social networks: longitudinal findings from the IDEAL programme

Sabatini, Serena; Martyr, Anthony; Hunt, Anna; Gamble, Laura D.; Matthews, Fiona E.; Thom, Jeanette M.; Jones, Roy W.; Allan, Louise; Knapp, Martin; Quinn, Catherine; Victor, Christina; Pentecost, Claire; Rusted, Jennifer M.; Morris, Robin G.; Clare, Linda

Authors

Serena Sabatini

Anthony Martyr

Anna Hunt

Laura D. Gamble

Jeanette M. Thom

Roy W. Jones

Louise Allan

Martin Knapp

Catherine Quinn

Christina Victor

Claire Pentecost

Jennifer M. Rusted

Robin G. Morris

Linda Clare



Abstract

Objectives: Longitudinal evidence documenting health conditions in spousal caregivers of people with dementia and whether these influence caregivers’ outcomes is scarce. This study explores type and number of health conditions over two years in caregivers of people with dementia and subgroups based on age, sex, education, hours of care, informant-rated functional ability, neuropsychiatric symptoms, cognition of the person with dementia, and length of diagnosis in the person with dementia. It also explores whether over time the number of health conditions is associated with caregivers’ stress, positive experiences of caregiving, and social networks Methods: Longitudinal data from the IDEAL (Improving the experience of Dementia and Enhancing Active Life) cohort were used. Participants comprised spousal caregivers (n = 977) of people with dementia. Self-reported health conditions using the Charlson Comorbidity Index, stress, positive experiences of caregiving, and social network were assessed over two years. Mixed effect models were used Results: On average participants had 1.5 health conditions at baseline; increasing to 2.1 conditions over two years. More health conditions were reported by caregivers who were older, had no formal education, provided 10 + hours of care per day, and/or cared for a person with more neuropsychiatric symptoms at baseline. More baseline health conditions were associated with greater stress at baseline but not with stress over time. Over two years, when caregivers’ health conditions increased, their stress increased whereas their social network diminished Discussion: Findings highlight that most caregivers have their own health problems which require management to avoid increased stress and shrinking of social networks

Citation

Sabatini, S., Martyr, A., Hunt, A., Gamble, L. D., Matthews, F. E., Thom, J. M., Jones, R. W., Allan, L., Knapp, M., Quinn, C., Victor, C., Pentecost, C., Rusted, J. M., Morris, R. G., & Clare, L. (2024). Health conditions in spousal caregivers of people with dementia and their relationships with stress, caregiving experiences, and social networks: longitudinal findings from the IDEAL programme. BMC Geriatrics, 24(1), Article 171. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-024-04707-w

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 13, 2024
Online Publication Date Feb 19, 2024
Publication Date 2024
Deposit Date Feb 20, 2024
Publicly Available Date Feb 20, 2024
Journal BMC Geriatrics
Print ISSN 1471-2318
Electronic ISSN 1471-2318
Publisher Springer Verlag
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 24
Issue 1
Article Number 171
DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-024-04707-w
Keywords Physical health; Health inequalities; Co-morbidity; Dementia carers; Alzheimer’s disease
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4553583

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2024.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.





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