Abstract
This study examined the relationship between caregiver burden and sleep quality in dependent people’s family caregivers. A cross-sectional study was carried out with 201 dependent people’s family caregivers and 92 non-caregivers controls. Participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI), and an ad-hoc questionnaire to collect sociodemographic data. Based on CBI scores, subjects were categorized into three groups: family caregivers with high levels of perceived burden, family caregivers with low and medium levels of perceived burden and non-caregiver controls. There were significant differences among the groups in the PSQI total (F = 40.39; p < 0.001), subjective sleep quality (F = 25.55; p < 0.001), sleep latency (F = 16.99; p < 0.001), sleep disturbances (F = 14.90; p < 0.001), use of sleep medications (F = 6.94; p < 0.01) and daytime dysfunction (F = 20.12; p < 0.001). These differences were found only between the caregivers with high levels of perceived burden and the other two groups (p < 0.05). There were also significant differences between the groups in sleep duration (F = 18.34; p < 0.001) and habitual sleep efficiency (F = 24.24; p < 0.001). In these dependent measures, the differences were found in all the pairs examined (p < 0.05). These results suggest that caregiver burden is related to sleep quality, so that caregivers with greater perceived burden have a worse sleep quality.
Highlights
Caregivers are the most important informal caregivers that voluntarily provide support and unpaid care to a family member who cannot function with autonomy and independence
There were no significant differences between the groups in age, gender, marital status, educational level, and monthly incomes
Regarding the characteristics of the care recipients, there were no significant differences between the family caregiver groups neither in age nor in gender of the dependent person cared
Summary
Caregivers are the most important informal caregivers that voluntarily provide support and unpaid care to a family member who cannot function with autonomy and independence. Caring for a dependent family member with a chronic disability is a very stressful task that can have adverse consequences for the health and health-related quality of life of the family caregiver [1,2] These negative effects on the informal caregiver are closely related to what has been called “caregiver burden”. Caregiver burden is a complex and multidimensional construct, with subjective and objective components [3]; it has been defined as the physical, psychological, social and financial stressors experienced by caregivers due to the provision of care [4] It is the product of the dynamic interaction among care needs of the dependent people, the care situation, and the caregiver’s resources and vulnerabilities. Caregivers who experience a high burden have an elevated psychological distress, presenting depression scores over twice as high as non-caregivers [10]
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