H049 Does social support predict quality of life for carers of people with Huntington’s disease?

<h3>Background</h3> Previous research has investigated predictors of quality of life (QoL) for carers of people with Huntington’s disease (HD) such as demographics, caring characteristics and illness-related variables of the person with HD. However, the investigation of psychosocial variables has been limited. Here we use data from Enroll-HD to investigate the importance of social support for carer QoL. <h3>Aims</h3> 1) To investigate whether social support predicts QoL for HD carers when controlling for demographics and HD illness-related variables. 2) To investigate whether social support buffers (i.e. moderates) the relationship between illness-related variables and QoL. <h3>Methods</h3> Participants were 880 carers of people with manifest HD enrolled in Enroll-HD. Multiple regressions were conducted to predict two subscales of the HD QoL for carers questionnaire (positive and negative feelings). Predictors were carer demographics, HD illness-related variables (behavioural/psychological, cognitive and motor difficulties and functional ability), and social support (satisfaction with family relationships and friendships). Moderation analyses tested whether the social support variables moderated the relationship between illness-related variables and positive and negative feelings. <h3>Results</h3> The two regression models were significant predicting 18% and 30% of the variance (for negative and positive feelings respectively). Both social support variables were significant independent predictors of the QoL in both models. Social support accounted for 9% and 21% of the variance (for negative and positive feelings respectively). All moderation models were non-significant. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Contextual factors such as social support are important for QoL for HD carers, although social support may not buffer the negative effects of symptoms of HD.