Measuring of Quality of Life in Family Caregivers for Patients with Dementia

This study attempts to establish a methodology for valuing of Quality of Life in Family Caregivers for Patients with Dementia, and analyzed QOL as an evaluated index for their daily living. Comparing the worst condition with supreme condition in temporal progress of family care the difference of QOL in family caregivers of both was examined by longitudinal method. A questionnaire of QOL was composed of factors of subjective caregiving burden, impact of Caregiving, Caregiving satisfaction, traditional caregiving ideology and objective index of health. The dependent variable was a sure means of their life in Family Caregivers for Patients with Dementia, the independent variables were subjective caregiving burden (subjective physically burden, subjective psychological burden, Subjective social burden, Subjective human relation burden), impact of caregiving, Caregiving satisfaction, traditional caregiving ideology and objective index of health. These variables were analyzed by multiple regression analysis and path analysis. The data for this study were obtained from 462 family caregivers for patients with dementia using questionnaire and interview survey in 1997-2000. The main findings of this study can be summarized as follows: 1) The condition in temporal progress of family care index was relative to subjective PsyChological burden, Subjective human relation burden and impact of caregiving (γ=0.345, γ=0.301, γ=0.289). 2) based on multiple regression analysis, the reliability of condition in temporal progress of family care index were these factors (contribution(β*γ) ; 18.9% , 15.9% , 10.3%). 3) based on path analysis, impact of caregiving was relative to objective index of health, traditional caregiving ideology was relative to subjective human relation burden and Subjective psychological burden, objective index of health was relative to subjective physically burden.