Analysis on the status and influencing factors of anticipatory grief among primary caregivers of families with advanced Alzheimer′s disease
10.3760/cma.j.cn115624-20191020-00452
- VernacularTitle:中晚期阿尔茨海默病家庭主要照顾者预期性悲伤现状及其影响因素
- Author:
Linxia CHEN
1
;
Guoli YAO
;
Ping ZHANG
Author Information
1. 绍兴市第七人民医院门急诊部，绍兴 312000
- From:
Chinese Journal of Health Management
2020;14(4):381-385
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To investigate the status of anticipatory grief among primary caregivers of families with advanced Alzheimer′s disease (AD) and analyze the influencing factors.Methods:A total of 160 primary caregivers in the families of AD patients in the middle and late stage who were treated in Shaoxing Seventh People′s hospital from August 2018 to September 2019 were selected as research subjects to investigate caregivers′ gender, age, education level, relationship with patients, reasons for taking care of patients, and the patients′ time of illness, combined diseases, and self-care ability. Anticipatory Grief Scale was used to compare the anticipatory grief level (AGL) of caregivers with different characteristics, and Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between the anticipatory grief and burden of caregivers, with a further exploration of the factors affecting caregivers′ anticipatory grief.Results:The anticipatory grief score of primary caregivers of families with AD patients in the middle and late stage was (83.88±17.21). Single factor analysis showed the following facts: the AGL of female caregivers was higher than that of males ( t =12.337, P<0.05); the AGL of spouses was higher than that of children and other family members ( F=10.940); the AGL showed in caretaking based on willingness was lower than that based on responsibility and obligation, and the reason was because other people were available ( F=4.501); the AGL of caregivers of patients with 5-10 years of illness was higher than that of those with 2-4 years of illness ( F=6.014); the AGL of caregivers of patients with more than 3 kinds of other diseases was higher than that of those with less than 1 and 2 kinds of other diseases; the AGL of caregivers of patients with no self-care ability was higher than that of those of patients who lost partial or most self-care ability ( F=5.712). The burden score of primary caregivers of patients in the middle and late stages of AD was (50.19±12.61). Pearson correlation analysis indicated that the anticipatory grief of caregivers was positively correlated with their burden of care ( r=0.581, P<0.001), and multiple regression analysis showed that the caregivers′ gender and relationship with patients, patients′ time of illness, and capacity of self-care, and the caregivers′ burden are the main factors influencing the anticipatory grief of caregivers in families of patients in the middle and late stages of AD (all P<0.05). Conclusion:There exists serious anticipatory grief among primary caregivers in families of patients in the middle and late stages of AD. The main influencing factors include caregivers′ gender, burden of care, relationship with patients, patients′ time of illness, and self-care capacity. Health management should be enhanced to improve the quality of life of the primary caregivers of patients in the middle and late stages of AD.
