Factors influencing the quality of life of family caregivers of persons with dementia/Alzheimer’s disease in Crete, Greece

Laboratory of Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Enhancement of Quality of Life, TEI of Crete

MEMBER OF THE REFERENCE REGION OF HERAAKLION CRETE, GREECE

This is a cross‐sectional study aiming to examine the burden of care experienced by the caregivers of persons diagnosed with AD residing in Crete. A convinience sample of 112 informal caregivers (78.8% females with mean age 58.9±11.6) of persons with AD was recruited regionally. The caregivers completed the Zarit Burden Interview (Zarit, Reever, Bach-Peterson, 1980) assessing caregiver’s burden of care; the WHOQOL-BREF assessing quality of life across four domains (i.e., physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environment); the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; Zigmond & Snaith, 1983) evaluating anxiety and depression.

The results showed that the higher the self-perceived burden the poorer the quality of life, regardless of other characteristics of the caregiver and the functional status of the patient (degree of independence in basic and more complex activities of daily living). It is noteworthy that despite the burden experienced by the family caregivers of persons with AD in Crete, they maintain a relatively satisfactory level of psychological resilience (range 6-30, mean=18.7) and quality of life (range 4-12 and means for physical health: 13.1; psychological health: 12.6; social relationships: 12.3; environment: 12.8), and a borderline level of anxiety  (range 0-21, mean=10.8) and depression (range 0-21, mean=9.2).

One possible explanation might be the existence of other sources of support sought by caregivers (social relationships, environment, etc.). Family solidarity (Lowenstein, 2007) and filial piety are aspects of the Greek familism values (Karagiannaki, 2011), the endorsement of which suggest that adult children, particularly the daughters or the oldest children, have to take care for their elderly parents. Even though this is progressively changing, in Greece traditionally older persons rely mainly on the family for care and support and the use of welfare or residential care services are still considered as a last resort (Karagiannaki, 2011).  There is no payment for the services provided by family caregivers by any social agencies.

The findings of this study have significant implications in terms of the social policy, especially in traditional regions such as Crete where the cultural norms gradually change, while an economic crisis is booming.