Mohammad Sadegh Sargolzaei, Daniyal Kohestani, Tahereh Alsadat Khoubbin Khoshnazar, Hossein Asghari Asl
{"title":"Relationship between Care Burden and Health Anxiety in the Family Caregivers of the Older Adults with Alzheimer’s Disease","authors":"Mohammad Sadegh Sargolzaei, Daniyal Kohestani, Tahereh Alsadat Khoubbin Khoshnazar, Hossein Asghari Asl","doi":"10.1007/s12126-023-09545-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><b>Background</b>: Being a chronic and prevalent disease in older adults, Alzheimer’s disease requires extensive and long-term care from caregivers. The disease significantly increases the burden on family caregivers and can cause physical and mental disorders for them, ultimately hindering their ability to provide adequate care for the patients. <b>Objectives</b>: The aim of the present study was to determine the relationship between care burden and health anxiety among the family caregivers of the older adults with Alzheimer’s disease. <b>Materials and Methods</b>: A correlational cross-sectional study enrolled 150 family caregivers who had been providing direct care to older adults with Alzheimer’s disease for at least six months, chosen by continuous sampling. The study collected data using the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) and Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI-18) at the Iranian Alzheimer’s Association in 2021. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 25, employing independent t-tests, analysis of variance, and regression analysis. <b>Results</b>: The results indicated that 75 (50%) caregivers had a moderate level of health anxiety, while 43.3% of them reported being anxious about their health to a poor degree. Additionally, 46.6% and 43.3% of caregivers experienced moderate and intense care burden, respectively. Among the other variables studied such as age, sex, level of education, marital status, and economic status, only health anxiety was found to predict the care burden in caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (<i>P</i> < 0.001). (CI95% Health anxiety: 52.80–58.81, CI95% Care burden: 71.89–79.90, R2: 11.9%). <b>Conclusion</b>: Since there is a significant relationship observed between health anxiety and care burden, it is important for health professionals and caregivers of older adults with Alzheimer’s disease to prioritize the health of the caregivers. This requires special attention from healthcare providers.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":1,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of Chemical Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Accounts of Chemical Research","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12126-023-09545-6","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Being a chronic and prevalent disease in older adults, Alzheimer’s disease requires extensive and long-term care from caregivers. The disease significantly increases the burden on family caregivers and can cause physical and mental disorders for them, ultimately hindering their ability to provide adequate care for the patients. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to determine the relationship between care burden and health anxiety among the family caregivers of the older adults with Alzheimer’s disease. Materials and Methods: A correlational cross-sectional study enrolled 150 family caregivers who had been providing direct care to older adults with Alzheimer’s disease for at least six months, chosen by continuous sampling. The study collected data using the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) and Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI-18) at the Iranian Alzheimer’s Association in 2021. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 25, employing independent t-tests, analysis of variance, and regression analysis. Results: The results indicated that 75 (50%) caregivers had a moderate level of health anxiety, while 43.3% of them reported being anxious about their health to a poor degree. Additionally, 46.6% and 43.3% of caregivers experienced moderate and intense care burden, respectively. Among the other variables studied such as age, sex, level of education, marital status, and economic status, only health anxiety was found to predict the care burden in caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (P < 0.001). (CI95% Health anxiety: 52.80–58.81, CI95% Care burden: 71.89–79.90, R2: 11.9%). Conclusion: Since there is a significant relationship observed between health anxiety and care burden, it is important for health professionals and caregivers of older adults with Alzheimer’s disease to prioritize the health of the caregivers. This requires special attention from healthcare providers.
期刊介绍:
Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance.
Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.