Gender differences in the experience of dementia family caregivers

Abstract

Informal caregiving of older adults is associated with high levels of stress and burden. Although more women than men are caregivers, the number of men assuming family caregiving roles has been increasing. Some research has shown associations between gender and variables measuring burden and coping, while others have not. This project examined gender differences on aspects of caregiving between two cohorts of dementia family caregivers. One provided care to patients with early age of onset AD: the second to a family member with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Family caregivers were recruited from an NIH-funded grant devoted to enhancing knowledge about FTD and provided consent to participate in a sub-project entitled “The Experience of Family Caregiving”. Participants were identified as the primary caregiver for a person with a diagnosis of dementia (Alzheimer's disease or one of several clinical subtypes of frontotemporal dementia). Caregivers completed the Caregiver Strain Index (CSI), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Perceived Control Questionnaire (PCQ-15), and the SF-36. Twenty-two male and forty-two female caregivers participated (N = 64). The majority were spouses (84.4%), married (89.1%), living with the patient (87.5%), and had known the patient for more than 10 years (98.4%). Twenty-eight were caring for a person with AD (43.8%) and 36 (56.3%) were caring for a person with an FTD subtype. Mean scores were higher for female versus male caregivers on the CSI (females = 6.86 [SD 3.43], males = 5.00 [SD 3.10]) and the BDI (females = 9.45 [SD 7.27], males = 4.77[SD 4.58]) (p = .004) suggesting higher levels of strain and depression among female caregivers. Male caregivers had higher mean scores on the PCQ-15 than females (50.73 [SD 6.17]) versus (45.83 [SD 7.65]) respectively (p = .013) suggesting a better sense of control among males. Sixty-two percent of caregivers rated their health as about the same as the previous year. Mean scores on perceived health status (SF-36) demonstrated that male caregivers had better perceived health status (3.91 [SD .61] versus 3.48 [SD .99]). Findings support that the experience of caregiving may be different for men than women.