The psychological and health consequences of caring for a spouse with dementia: a critical comparison of husbands and wives.
Caring for someone with dementia can be demanding, particularly for spouses living with the care recipient. The main goal of this study was to clarify differences in the experience of caregivers who were husbands and wives with respect to burden, health, healthy behaviors, presence of difficult care recipient behaviors, social supports, and the quality of the premorbid relationship. The results of this study support research demonstrating a difference between the caregiving experiences of women and men. It is becoming increasingly apparent that female gender is a marker that places them at increased risk of high burden and less support.
a Research Department , St. Joseph's Care Group , Thunder Bay , Ontario , Canada.
Carrie
C
Gibbons
Joy
J
Creese
Mun
M
Tran
Kevin
K
Brazil
Lori
L
Chambers
Bruce
B
Weaver
Michel
M
Bédard
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000374:Aggression; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000451:nursing*; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D018454:Spouses; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology*