Burnout in a sample of Alzheimer’s disease caregivers in Brazil

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Caregiver burden has been associated to both caregiver and patient factors, but little is known about their relationship to burnout. We aimed at investigating burnout correlations to the sociodemographic and clinical variables of a sample of caregivers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) outpatients. Methods: AD patients (n=69) and their caregivers completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories. Patients were administered the Mini Mental State Examination, the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, Clinical Dementia Rating and the Functional Activities Questionnaire. Burnout and each dimension (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment) were correlated to caregivers' sociodemographic characteristics, burden of care, anxious and depressive symptoms as well as to the patients' behavioral, function- al and cognitive profile. Results: Burden of care was the only variable that associated to caregiver burnout. Emotional exhaustion was the most prevalent dimension and associated to all caregivers' and patients' clinical variables. Conclusions: Caregiver burden associated to burnout, and emotional exhaustion is the dimension mostly associated to dementia severity and psychiatric morbidity in caregivers.