Date Presented 03/21/24
Caregivers of persons with dementia regularly report burden. Although research has identified protective factors for role management, this work highlights protective factors in persons with dementia as a focus for OT interventions.
Primary Author and Speaker: Paul Arthur
Additional Authors and Speakers: Chih-Ying Li
PURPOSE: Caregivers(CG) of persons living with dementia (PLWD) have high reported burden. 3 known CG protective factors include physical health, social support, and self-efficacy (Resnick, 2014). The intent of this work was to identify protective factors in PLWD as they pertain the presence of CG-reported burden.
DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey was completed. Inclusion criteria: (1) live-in CG of PLWD, (2) over 18, and (3) residing in the US. Participants were recruited through targeted social media advertisement.
METHOD: Consented CG’s completed a 54-question survey along with the Global Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) Scale (Morris, 1997). Analysis focused on historic protective factors in PLWD including age, gender, relationship, disease duration, neuropsychiatric symptom (NPS) number, CDR score, and community mobility. Secondary outcomes focused on the endorsement of CG burden. Logistic regression was used to identify person-level protective factors for PLWD as primary and secondary outcomes.
RESULTS: CG’s reported on 113 persons living with dementia (58% female) from 30 states. The average age of PLWD was 80.3 (SD=9.4). Most relationships were spouse (42%), and parent-child (34%). 75% of CG’s reported being the only support source. PLWD had a mean of two (SD=1.7) NPS. Mean disease duration was 5.9 years (SD=4.4). The majority of PLWD (58%) received a Global CDR Score of Moderate-to-Severe Dementia and 40.5% endorsed community mobility ability. More than 80% (n=91) CG’s reported burden and PLWD’s community mobility ability significantly predicted CG burden (β = -.220, p = .010).
CONCLUSION: Community mobility of PLWD influences CG burden and is an important interventional target for OT. Emerging evidence encourages renewed focus on meaningful participation in the community to prolong the physical health of PLWD.
IMPACT STATEMENT: Research supports community mobility interventions as mutually beneficial for PLWD/CG to prolong healthy living environments.
References
Resnick, B. (2014). Resilience in older adults. Topics in geriatric rehabilitation 30(3):p 155–163, https:doi.org/10.1097/TGR.0000000000000024
Morris, J. C., Ernesto, C., Schafer, K., Coats, M., Leon, S., Sano, M., et al. (1997). Clinical dementia rating training and reliability in multicentre studies: The Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study experience. Neurology, 48, 1508–1510. https:doi.org/10.1212/wnl.48.6.1508
