OBJECTIVES: To develop the Korean version of Disability Assessment for Dementia Scale(DAD-K), an instrument for functional disability for use with proxy-respondents of community-dwelling persons who have Alzheimer`s disease METHOD: Community-dwelling elderly and their caregivers with memory impairment(N=341) participated in this study to evaluate reliabilities and validities of DAD-K. RESULTS: The DAD-K demonstrated a high degree of internal consistency(Cronbach`s alpha=0.88) and excellent interrater(ICC=0.96) and test-retest(ICC=0.96) reliability and good concurrent validity. In addi- tion, it was found not to have age, education and gender bias. CONCLUSION: The DAD-K is valid and reliable instrument in Korean elderly with Alzheimer`s disease, that may help clinicians and caregivers of the population with Alzheimer`s disease make decisions regar- ding the choice of suitable interventions.
Aged ; Caregivers ; Dementia* ; Education ; Humans ; Memory ; Sexism

PURPOSE: This study was to investigate effects of the dementia family education program on dementia recognition, burden, and depression in caregivers of elders with dementia. METHODS: Aquasi-experimental research with a nonequivalent control group non-synchronized pre and post design was used with 52 caregivers of elders with dementia living in D city. Data were collected from August 12 to December 12, 2013. The dementia family education program was provided to the experimental group once a week over 8 weeks, for 90 minutes per session. Data were analyzed using χ² test, Fisher exact probability test, t-test. RESULTS: Experimental group participants who took part in the dementia family education program had higher dementia recognition scores than the control group that did not participate (t=3.79, p<.001). Experimental group participants who took part in the dementia family education program had lower burden and depression scores than the control group that did not participate (t=-2.90, p=.006) (t=-2.22, p=.034). CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that the dementia family education program enhances dementia recognition by caregivers of elders with dementia and lowers burden and depression in these caregivers. Use of the dementia family education program is recommended as an effective nursing intervention for caregivers of elders with dementia.
Caregivers* ; Dementia* ; Depression* ; Education* ; Humans ; Nursing

BACKGROUND: The role of family caregivers is becoming more important for the recovery of patients with stroke, as the prevalence of stroke is increasing. Consequently, the burden of caregiving can affect both patients' and caregiver's functional health. The purpose of this study was to make a novel caregiving burden scale and evaluate factors that influence the burden of the family caregiver. METHODS: The caregiver burden scale consists of four aspects: psycho-emotional, financial, physical and isolation from social activities. The questionnaire was administrated to the family care-givers of 118 patients with stroke who consented to be interviewed. Among 118 caregivers, we analyzed 106 caregivers who answered the questionnaire completely. We evaluated the construct validity and internal reliability of the burden scale and applied multiple regression analysis for the factors that influence caregiver's burden. RESULTS:1) Construct validity by factor analysis and Internal reliability was high 2) Among 106 caregivers, 40 (37.7%) approached subjective depression on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). There was a statistically significant difference(p<0.01) in the strength of burden between the groups with and without depression. 3)Of the variables, including patient's age, caregiver's age, duration of caregiving, education level of caregiver, and socio-economic status of family, only the BDI scores of caregivers and the Barthel Index scores of patients were correlated to the degree of caregiving burden. CONCLUSIONS: This caregiving burden scale can be a useful tool for the evaluation of caregiver's burden with stroke. We believe that thoughtful consideration and realistic support for family caregivers can be very important in the long-term management of patients with stroke. (J Korean Neurol Assoc 19(3):213~218, 2001)
Caregivers ; Depression ; Education ; Humans ; Prevalence ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Stroke*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was first to identify knowledge about, attitude toward, and educational needs for dementia in certified caregivers; secondly, to understand the relationships among those variables; and thirdly, to provide base-line data for education program development. METHODS: The participants in this study were 670 certified caregivers who were working in nursing homes or care hospitals throughout the whole of the country and engaged in education programs for improvement of their professional abilities. Collected data were analyzed using t-tests, ANOVA, Duncan, and Pearson's correlation coefficients with the SPSS 18.0 for Windows Program. RESULTS: The scores for knowledge about, attitude toward, and educational needs for dementia were 14.12+/-2.83 out of 20, 42.27+/-5.54 out of 50 (item mean 4.22), and 121.51+/-22.13 out of 160 (item mean 3.79) respectively. There were statistically significant positive correlations between knowledge and attitude (r=.238, p<.001), educational needs (r=.083, p=.032), and attitude and educational needs (r=.244, p<.001). CONCLUSION: Tailored and continuous educational programs for certified caregivers that can improve knowledge about the causes and symptoms of dementia should be developed. Nurses and professors who are experts in dementia should be on the front lines of education for caregivers.
Caregivers* ; Dementia* ; Education ; Humans ; Nursing Homes ; Program Development

PURPOSE: This study was done to identify family burden, resilience, spiritual well-being and quality of life of primary caregivers of people with mental illness. METHODS: Participants were 160 primary caregivers of people with mental illness being treated at one of three mental health clinics in Busan. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test, Pearson's correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression. RESULTS: Quality of life was positively correlated with resilience (r=.55, p=.006), spiritual well-being (r=.41, p<.001), and negatively correlated with family burden (r=-.28, p<.001). Factors influencing quality of life were resilience (β=.36), family monthly income (β=.24), support from others (β=.20) and education (β=.18). The explanatory power of these factors for quality of life of primary caregivers of people with mental illness was 45%. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that resilience is the most important factor affecting quality of life of primary caregivers of people with mental illness. Therefore, the development of nursing interventions to improve resilience and enhance the quality of life of primary caregivers is necessary.
Busan ; Caregivers* ; Education ; Humans ; Mental Health ; Nursing ; Quality of Life*

PURPOSE: This study was to explore the level of health status, burnout, and burden of primary family caregivers of the elderly inpatients, and to identify the relations among the factors. METHOD: The subjects were a total of 232 primary family caregivers of elderly in-patients at K and E Medical Center, and were surveyed from March 1 to April 10, 2007. Measures were a health status measuring tool based on CMI developed by Brodman et al. (1945), the burnout measuring tool developed by Pines et al. (1981), and the burden measuring tool revised by Jung, Soo-Jin (1998). Data were analyzed by SPSS-WIN 12.0. RESULTS: Firstly, the mean of health status was 1.69, which means that they were mostly healthy, and the mean of burnout was 2.66, which means that they were a little burned out. The mean of burden was 2.71, which means that they were a little burdened. Second, there were high correlations between health status and burnout, between health status and burden, and between burnout and burden. Third, there were significant difference in health status and burnout according to sex and relationship, and in burden according to sex, education level and relationship. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses need to consider the characteristics, health status, burnout, and burden of primary family caregivers.
Aged* ; Burns ; Caregivers* ; Education ; Health Status ; Humans ; Inpatients

The population of the elderly and neuropsychiatric elderly patients increases radically, but realistic management in the welfare and medical dimensions are not adequate. Especially, the treatment and care for the neuropsychiatric geriatric patients have not been achieved properly for the lack of good medical facilities and heavy economic burden. Therefore, this paper will propose a model of specialized neuropsychiatric geriatric hospital suited to our reality for the welfare of the elderly themselves and their families. For this, we investigated the needs of medical consumers through surveys. Our subjects are 41 families of neuropsychiatric elderly patients in admission and 51 caregivers. In these surveys, patrons expect the establishment of specialized geriatric hospital proper to the characteristics of neuropsychiatric elderly patients. In addition, they hope patients adminssion fee to be reduced as difficulty and specialty of neuropsychiatric geriatric patient treatment are actively applied to the medical insurance fee and national support system. According to our examination of the caregeivers for the neuropsychiatric elderly patients, caregivers didn't receive systematized training, but only brief care-giving education. Their status is also unstable and their pay is low. These issues are very important for the quality of care-giving work. Therefore, specialized neuropsychiatric geriatric hospitals should be established properly to our social reality and request, and national and social supports for the training and education of medical staffs and quite necessary.
Aged* ; Caregivers ; Education ; Fees and Charges ; Hope ; Humans ; Insurance ; Medical Staff

In order to investigate the factors associated with family burdens of schizophrenics, 92 primary caregivers and 68 siblings of 92 persons with schizophrenia were examined by means of self-report scales about the effect of positive and negative symptom behaviors, clinical and sociodemographic variables, and guilty feelings toward patient on the objective and subjective burden. The results were as follows. 1) There was no difference in the objective and subjective burden scores between the primary caregivers and siblings, even though the former showed a higher scores compared to the latter. 2) Burden scores were significantly affected by the factors such as age of patients, duration of illness, total duration of hospitalizations, monthly family income, and the experience of family education in the primary caregivers or siblings of schizophrenics. 3) Objective and subjective burden were related to both the severity of positive, negative, and the other symptom behaviors in the primary caregivers and siblings. The positive and negative symptom behaviors were more related to subjective burdens compared to objective burdens in the primary caregivers and siblings. The positive symptom behaviors were more related to perceived objective and subjective burdens compared to negative symptom behaviors in the siblings. 4) The correlations between guilty feelings toward patient and burden scores was significant only in the primary caregivers. These results could be used as useful datas to develop the more effective family intervention for reducing family burden.
Caregivers* ; Education ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Schizophrenia ; Siblings* ; Weights and Measures

PURPOSE: This study was done to evaluate the long-term effects of a dementia education program for certified geriatric caregivers (CGCs) caring for elders with dementia in a nursing home. METHODS: The research design was one group pretest-posttest design and included 29 CGCs who completed the pre-test, dementia education program, and post-test (immediately after, 1 month after, and 3 months after the completion of the program). The education program was conducted for 3 weeks, and effects of the program were evaluated using measures of knowledge of dementia, care of elders with dementia, work stress, and work satisfaction. RESULTS: Although there was no significant change in the knowledge of dementia, it was significantly improved immediately after the program (Z=-2.03, p=.042). There was a significant change in the care of elders with dementia by the CGCs (chi2=13.37, p=.004), but no significant changes in work stress or work satisfaction. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that dementia education program is effective in improving knowledge of dementia and care of elders with dementia by CGCs. The results also provide valuable basic data for developing effective dementia education programs for CGCs in nursing homes, but further research is needed using a high quality education programs and research methodology.
Caregivers* ; Dementia* ; Education* ; Humans ; Job Satisfaction ; Nursing Homes* ; Research Design

OBJECTIVE: We investigated caregivers' attitudes toward dementia, which may play a key role in the timely treatment and optimal care of people with dementia (PWD), and patient and caregiver factors potentially associated with these attitudes. METHODS: As a part of the Nationwide Survey on Dementia Care in Korea, we evaluated the attitudes of 731 community-dwelling caregivers of PWD with the Dementia Attitude Scale (DAS). Using stepwise multiple regression analysis, we investigated the sociodemographic factors of the caregivers, the clinicodemographic factors of the PWD, and the situational factors of caregiving that may influence caregivers' attitudes. RESULTS: The mean score on the DAS total was 80.65+/-16.0 (maximum : 140). The mean score on the DAS Knowledge subscale, which reflects awareness of dementia, was 42.86+/-9.6 (maximum : 70), and that on the DAS Comfort subscale, which reflects emotional and behavioral attitudes toward dementia, was 37.79+/-10.3 (maximum : 70). Non-spouse caregiver, living in a rural area, completion of a formal care education program (caregiver factors) and female patient, high educational level, high clinical dementia rating and mild behavioral symptoms (patient factors) were associated with a high DAS total score. CONCLUSION: We found much room for improvement in caregivers' attitudes towards PWD in Korea, indicating a need for strategies to improve these attitudes, targeting the at-risk group.
Behavioral Symptoms ; Caregivers* ; Dementia* ; Education ; Female ; Humans ; Korea