Supervisors info:
Κουτσιλιέρης Μιχαήλ, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Μαριδάκη Μαρία, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Τ.Ε.Φ.Α.Α., ΕΚΠΑ
Φιλίππου Αναστάσιος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Introduction: In recent decades, there has been an ongoing progress in various areas, including the field of medicine and technology. A corollary of this is some positive and some negative effects in the modern world. More specifically, the results of ongoing development in these areas are the increase of the aged population and the spread of the sedentary lifestyle. In addition, it is known that the increase in the number of elderly people is related to the prevalence of dementia and, thus, with the increase in the number of dementia caregivers. Moreover, the spread of sedentary lifestyle is related to the reduction of physical activity and consequently to the spread of many non-communicable diseases, psychological disorders and increased mortality. These effects may be related to each other through family dementia caregivers, who often have physical and psychological health problems similar to those of sedentary lifestyle. Therefore, the question that arises is whether the disturbed state of health of carers is due to reduced levels of physical activity?
Objective: This study focused on the investigation of the psychological profile, the quality of life and the physical activity levels of the Greek family dementia carers. Also, it focused on determining whether all of these variables are correlated to each other. Furthermore, the purpose of this study was to compare these variables with a non-caregiver control group to determine if there are differences between the caregivers and non- caregivers in the levels of anxiety, depression, burden, quality of life and with which way these are correlated with physical activity. Ultimate goal of these aims was to determine the physical activity levels of caregivers and noncaregivers in Greece and to clarify whether satisfactory levels of physical activity can improve mental health and quality of life of dementia caregivers and non-caregivers.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed. The sample consisted of 159 volunteers, 100 of whom were family caregivers of people suffering from dementia and 59 were the control group (who did not have any kind professional or other careers related to carers). Six questionnaires were granted in total, six in the group of carers and five in the control group, which included: a demographic questionnaire, the MBI stress scale, the BDI depression scale, the WHOQOL-BREF quality of life standard, a Physical Activity-RPAQ questionnaire and the scale of the charge - ZBI, which was granted only to carers. The results were statistically analyzed by the statistical program SPSS. Results: The Greek family dementia caregivers appear to have worse quality of life and lower levels of physical activity compared with the Greek non-caregivers of equivalent age and gender. However, in terms of anxiety and depression it does not appear to exist a statistically significant difference between the two groups. In addition, it has been shown that the low-active caregivers and non-caregivers have worse quality of life than the high and moderate active caregivers and non-caregivers, and the less active caregivers have higher levels of depression than high and moderate active carers. Regarding anxiety (caregivers and non-caregivers) and depression of noncaregivers no differences were revealed. On the other hand, when the levels of physical activity were satisfactory (according to recommendations of World Health Organization (WHO) for physical activity) the levels of depression were reduced and quality of life appeared to become better. Finally, it was found that stress levels, levels of depression, quality of life and the burden (of caregivers) interact, meaning that as anxiety increases so depression increases and as stress and depression increase the quality of life deteriorates as well in both carers and non-carers. Similarly, in the caregiver’s group, as the burden increases, both anxiety and depression increase and so the quality of life deteriorates.
Conclusions: Caregivers of people with dementia exhibit a worse quality of life and lower levels of physical activity than non-caregivers. However, physical activity seems to be a way to improve the quality of life of both groups. It was also observed that mental characteristics (anxiety, depression, burden) are correlated with each other, as well as with the quality of life. Therefore, it could be assumed that by improving one variable (e.g. quality of life), the others (stress, depression, burden) may be also affected. Further studies are needed to confirm this assumption.
Keywords:
Caregivers, Non-caregivers, Anxiety, Depression, Quality of life, Burden, Physical activity
