Social support, positive caregiving experience, and caregiver burden in informal caregivers of older adults with dementia
Open accessAbstract
Introduction Dementia is currently one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older adults worldwide. Cognitive dysfunction, neuropsychiatric symptoms, somatic complaints, and functional impairment fundamentally affect not only a person living with dementia (PLwD), but also his/her informal caregiver(s), often resulting in a high caregiver burden. A number of variables, including the caregiver's sociodemographic characteristics, the clinical characteristics of PLwD, social support, and the caregiver's personal resources determine the caregiver's burden. Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of caregiver burden in informal caregivers of PLwD with perceived social support, positive caregiving experience, and applying therapeutic communication methods. Methods The data were collected from September 2021 to February 2022 among 115 “PLwD—informal caregiver” dyads in the community settings in Slovakia. Measures included the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI-12), the Oslo Social Support Scale (OSSS-3), the Positive Aspects of Caregiving Scale (PACS), and two questions on applying therapeutic communication methods—reminiscence and validation according to Naomi Feil. The Short IQCODE was used for assessing cognitive decline in PLwD. Pearson's and Spearman's correlations, t -tests, Chi-square, ANOVA, and linear multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data (IBM SPSS 27). Results The mean age of informal caregivers was 54 ± 12.4 years (81.7% of women) and the mean caregiving duration was 4.8 ± 4.8 years. The mean age of PLwD was 80.5 ± 8.3 years (73.0% of women) and their Short IQCODE mean score was 4.1 ± 1.0. Lower caregiving burden was significantly associated with higher perceived social support (β = 0.33, p < 0.01), with higher positive caregiving experience (β = 0.33, p < 0.01), and higher caregiving intensity (β = 0.24, p < 0.05) among informal caregivers of PLwD. The associations between caregiver burden and applying two therapeutic communication methods were not significant. Conclusions Implementing psycho-social and educational public health interventions focused on strengthening social support and maintaining positive perceptions of caregiving can help reduce the increased risk of caregiver burden in informal caregivers of older adults with dementia.
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Caregivers who receive greater social support report lower levels of burden.
“The role of social support in alleviating caregiver burden is widely recognized, and caregivers who receive greater social support report lower levels of burden (48, 50).”
From Caring alone: older adult care burdens, practices, and structural imbalances among China's one-child generation (2025) · cites this paper as [50]
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“Community-based programs that offer psychological support, respite services, and targeted training could mitigate burden and improve wellbeing [37].”
- Authors
- Nemcikova, M., Katreniakova, Z., & Nagyova, I.
- Affiliations
- University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik (SK)
- ORCID
- Nemcikova, Marta
- Venue
- Frontiers in Public Health
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2023-01-25
- Volume
- 11
- Pages
- 1104250-1104250
- ISSN
- 2296-2565 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9905841
- OpenAlex
- W4317931749
- Cited by
- 147
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 45 · 2025: 67 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 13
- FWCI
- 29.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Vedecká Grantová Agentúra MŠVVaŠ SR a SAV
- Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Nursing care and research
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving
- Keywords
- caregiver burden, dementia, informal caregivers, older adults, perceived social support, therapeutic communication, reminiscence, validation, care intensity, cognitive decline
- MeSH terms
- Caregiver Burden, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Dementia, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Social Support, Caregivers, Cost of Illness
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