Caregivers' perceptions of dementia patients' functional ability.
Dementia patients' caregivers often provide information about patients' daily functioning, but little is known about factors influencing caregivers' perceptions. Baseline data from an intervention trial were used to compare caregiver estimates of dementia patients' performance with their actual performance of instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) and to assess relationships between measures of caregiver responses to caregiving, self-perceived sense of self-efficacy, and depression. We also assessed patient cognition, overall function and behavioral disturbance, and caregivers' perceptions of their patients' behavior as manipulative or deliberate. Disparities between these estimates and actual patient performance on structured IADL tasks were unrelated to any caregiver, patient, or relationship factor that we measured
Davis
Barbara A
BA
Department of Neurology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, USA.
Martin-Cook
Kristin
K
Hynan
Linda S
LS
Weiner
Myron F
MF
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires