DOES KNOWLEDGE MATTER? AN INVESTIGATION INTO KNOWLEDGE OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND CAREGIVER BURDEN

Abstract

Abstract A caregiver for someone with Alzheimer’s disease often experiences burden, which can negatively impact their own physical and mental health, social participation and network, and financial stability (Chaio et al.; 2015, George & Gwyther, 1986). There is much interest in determining how to mitigate burden and studies suggest knowledge of the disease and recognizing positive aspects of caregiving may help reduce burden (Abdollahpour et al., 2018; Graham et al., 1997). The purpose of this study was to better understand how certain caregiver characteristics may impact burden. Participants (N=112) completed questionnaires regarding burden, disease knowledge, specific characteristics, and their caregiver experience. Pearson’s correlations were conducted to examine the relationship between knowledge, burden, and caregiver characteristics. There was no significant correlation between burden and knowledge (p =.457), but burden was significantly correlated with positive aspects of caregiving (p <.001) and life satisfaction (p <.001). To better understand how well these two variables predicted burden, a multiple regression was conducted, R² = .352, F(2, 90) = 24.48, p < .001. Our findings provide further evidence that a focus on the positive aspects of caregiving and higher levels of life satisfaction are predictors of reduced caregiver burden. Some prior studies suggested knowledge of Alzheimer’s disease led to decreased burden, whereas other studies found more knowledge increased anxiety, thus increased burden (Zawadzki et al., 2011). Our failure to find a correlation between knowledge and burden levels suggests this relationship may not be straightforward and future research needs to explore more specific aspects of this question.