Psychological Symptoms in Caregivers of Individuals Diagnosed with Dementia in Turkey: A Conservation of Resources Perspective

Dementia is a disorder that is expected to increase in prevalence over the years and affects the daily lives of individuals. Because of its cognitive, emotional, and behavioral effects, dementia can impact a person's daily life and create a need for care. Since providing care involves many struggles, caregivers may experience numerous psychological symptoms. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the factors correlated with psychological symptoms experienced by caregivers of individuals diagnosed with dementia (IWD) within the framework of the Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory. In other words, the aim is to examine the serial mediating roles of perceived social support and resource loss in the relationship between optimism and psychological symptoms. One hundred and forty-eight (148) caregivers of IWD participated in this study from Turkey. They completed the Sociodemographic Information Form, Resource Loss Scale (RLS), Life Orientation Test (LOT), The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, (MSPSS), and Brief Symptom Inventory. (BSI). First, Pearson correlation analysis, independent samples t-test, and one-way ANOVA were used to identify the associations and covariance between sociodemographic and all other variables. Then, the Model 6 template in Process Macro for SPSS was used to investigate the serial mediating roles of perceived social support and resource loss in the relationship between optimism and psychological symptoms. A negative relationship between optimism and psychological symptoms was found. While perceived social support and resource loss were found to have significant serial mediating role in this relationship, neither perceived social support nor resource loss was found to have a significant independent mediating role. This study is important because it is the first study to examine caregivers of IWD within the scope of the COR theory using these variables. Clinicians working in the field would benefit from focusing on interventions that increase perceived levels of social support and optimism and reduce perceptions of resource loss when working with caregivers of individuals diagnosed with dementia.