Comparison in Care Burden, Fatigue, and Life Contentment of Caregivers by Gender Relationship with Demented Elders / 여성건강간호학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study was done in order to examine the differences in gender respect to care burden, fatigue, and life contentment of family caregivers of elderly with dementia. METHODS: The setting of the study was a community-based dementia care center providing daycare services. One hundred ninety four caregivers were recruited for the survey. A structured questionnaire was used which included demographic information, care burden, fatigue, and general contentment scales. Caregivers were classified into 4 groups by gender relationship with care recipients. RESULTS: The majority of the caregivers were middle-aged and elderly. More than twice as many were female rather than male caregivers. The results showed that women caregivers expressed more fatigue than men overall (p< .05). In the gender relationships, a different combination of man-woman appeared to have more burdens than that of a woman-woman group (p< .05). For fatigue, the man caregiver-woman elderly group showed a higher fatigue score than a woman-man group (p< .05). However, there was no significant difference in life contentment among groups. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that caregiver's gender and gender relationship with elders could be considerable factors when the nurses make a plan in the community for dementia nursing management services.