Caregiving experience study of family caregivers of senile dementia patients in community

Objective To get a more comprehensive view of caregiving experiences, and describe the caregiver burden and the positive aspects of caregiving of family caregivers of senile dementia patients in community and to explore the relationship between the caregiver burden and the positive aspects of caregiving. Methods Totally 80 family community-dwelling caregivers of senile dementia patients in community were investigated by Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) and Positive Aspects of Caregiving (PAC) questionnaires. Results The score of CBI was 54.73±13.15 and the score of PAC was 28.53±5.37. The score of PAC was negatively correlated with the caregiver burden (r=-0.243, P<0.05). Conclusions The caregiver burden of the family community-dwelling caregivers of dementia patients is high and the positive aspects of caregiving is at middle level. Professional help and support should be provided to the family caregivers of dementia patients by the community health service centers on the premise that the caregiving experience is fully understood. Our aim is to reduce their burden, strengthen the caregiving skills and improve the positive aspects of caregiving simultaneously. Key words: Dementia; Caregiving experience; Caregiver burden; Positive aspects of caregiving; Family caregivers