DETERMINANTS OF QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG FAMILY CAREGIVERS OF OLDER ADULTS WITH DEMENTIA

Dementia is a progressive illness and it imposed a great challenge for the caregivers. The daunting tasks have an impact to the quality of life of these caregivers. Methods:A cross sectional study was conducted in five major hospitals in Sarawak, Malaysia,from June until December 2011. The objectives were to determine the quality of life among informal primary caregiversof elderly diagnosed with dementia and its associated factors.The respondents were informal primary caregivers of dementia patients who were on follow-up at the psychiatric clinic in five selected hospitals. They were recruited purposively from a list of elderly dementia cases. Guided interview was carried out either during clinic appointment or home visit for those who were not present during clinic follow-up. A set of questionnaire including socio-demographic characteristics, caregiving characteristics, patient characteristicsand SF 36 questionnaire for measurement of quality of life was administered. Results:Hundred forty five primary caregivers were interviewed. They had significant poor physical composite score (PCS) as compared to mental composite score (MCS (p<0.05)). Behaviour problem among patientsand being a Chinese carer were significantly associated with poor mental score (p<0.05).Meanwhile being unemployed (p<0.05) and taking care of severe type of dementia patients (p<0.05) were significantly associated with poor physical score. Conclusion: Dementia caregivers, experiencing poor physical and mental health. It was associated withChinese race, behaviour problems of the patients,employment statusand type of dementia