title: The experience of caregiving:  differences between behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine caregiver strain, depression, perceived sense of control, and distress from patient neuropsychiatric symptoms in family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer disease (AD) and behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and determine whether group differences exist.
  
  
  METHODS
  Family caregivers were recruited from the Memory and Aging Center in San Francisco, California. Analyses of cross-sectional data on 53 family caregivers (AD = 31, bvFTD = 22) were performed. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to contrast groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were statistically significant differences between the AD and bvFTD caregivers in strain, distress, and perceived control but not in depression. On average, bvFTD caregivers experienced greater strain and distress, more depressive symptoms, and lower perceived control.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings support that experiences of AD and bvFTD caregivers may differ. Further study is needed to identify possible explanatory factors for these group differences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, USA. cindy.wong@ucsfmedctr.org
authors.forename: Cindy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Merrilees
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ketelle
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barton
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wallhagen
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000451:nursing*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression; D005260:Female; D057180:Frontotemporal Dementia / Q000451:nursing*; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013315:Stress, Psychological