title: Spouse-caregivers' quality of life in Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The relationship between sexuality and quality of life (QoL) of spouse-caregivers remains unclear. We designed this study to evaluate the relationship between sexual satisfaction and spouse-caregivers' QoL, and to determine the influence of the clinical characteristics of people with dementia (PWD) on spouse-caregivers' self-reported QoL.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a cross-sectional design, 54 PWD and their spouse-caregivers completed the QoL in Alzheimer's Disease scale (QoL-AD), questionnaire on sexual experience and satisfaction (QSES), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Clinical Dementia Rating scale (CDR), Assessment Scale of Psychosocial Impact of the Diagnosis of Dementia (ASPIDD), Pfeffer functional activities questionnaire (FAQ), the Cornell scale for depression in dementia (CSDD) and Zarit burden interview (ZBI). Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were conducted to identify the factors that influenced the spouse-caregivers' QoL ratings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We did not find a significant difference in QoL between male and female spouse-caregivers (p = 0.71). We also found that 13% of males and 48.1% of females demonstrated moderate to severe sexual dissatisfaction. However, we did not find a significant correlation between spouse-caregivers' QoL and sexual satisfaction (p = 0.41). The linear regression indicated that impaired awareness and lower QoL of PWD were significantly related to spouse-caregivers' QoL (p = 0.000).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The spouse-caregivers' QoL is influenced by awareness of disease and PWD QoL. Our study would be helpful for the development of adequate psycho-educational approaches to increase spouse-caregivers' QoL, considering the specificities of the couples' relationship.
authors.affiliation: Center for Alzheimer's Disease,Institute of Psychiatry,Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcela Moreira Lima
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Nogueira
authors.affiliation: Department of Political Sociology,Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina,Brazil.
authors.forename: Jose Pedro Simões
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Neto
authors.affiliation: Center for Alzheimer's Disease,Institute of Psychiatry,Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Fernanda B
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Sousa
authors.affiliation: Center for Alzheimer's Disease,Institute of Psychiatry,Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,Brazil.
authors.forename: Raquel L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Center for Alzheimer's Disease,Institute of Psychiatry,Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,Brazil.
authors.forename: Rachel D L
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Rosa
authors.affiliation: Center for Alzheimer's Disease,Institute of Psychiatry,Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,Brazil.
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Belfort
authors.affiliation: Center for Alzheimer's Disease,Institute of Psychiatry,Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,Brazil.
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.affiliation: Center for Alzheimer's Disease,Institute of Psychiatry,Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcia Cristina Nascimento
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Dourado
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: sexual satisfaction