Burden of Care, Mental Health and Subjective Well Being of Family Caregivers of Elderly Patients

Abstract

This study is aimed at identifying how the burden ofcare of theelderly patientssuffering from dementia and physical disabilities is related to mental health and subjective well-beingof the family caregivers. In this study, survey research design was usedand data were collectedthrough convenient sampling from 100 caregivers of elderly patients with dementia(n = 50)and physical disability(n = 50).Four tools were used; The Caregiver Strain Index (Robinson& Price, 1982); General Health Questionnaire(Goldberg,1978); and The Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirskyand Lapper, 1999).Correlation and t-test were carried out and findings showeda significantnegative correlation between burden of care and the caregiver’s quality of life. The caregivers of dementia patientsshowed a significant decline in their mental health as compared to the caregivers of patients with physical disability;however both the groups did not show any significant difference in terms of burden of care. Significant gender differences were noted interms of depression. Further results indicatedthat the caregiver’s education and occupation were significant predictors of burden of care. The importance of the study lies in the fact that the findings will be highly valuable in gaining insight into the psychological problems experienced by the family caregivers in Pakistan.