Resilience in a Greek Sample of Informal Dementia Caregivers: Familism as a Culture-Specific Factor.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence and the factors associated with resilience among a sample of 118 Greek informal caregivers (78.8% females, mean age=58.9, SD=11.6) of people with dementia. Face-to-face interviews assessed caregivers' socio-demographics, resilience, quality of life, burden, familism, and perception of services and their proxy assessments of the cognitive functioning, functional activity, and behavioral problems of people with dementia. Moderate levels of resilience were reported by 58.6% of the caregivers. Dementia-related knowledge and higher levels of familism were associated with higher levels of resilience, whereas higher frequency of dealing with behavioral problems was associated with lower resilience. Effective interventions to strengthen Greek dementia caregivers' resilience should be culture-specific, targeting both behavioral problems and caregivers' intrapersonal facilitators (i.e, dementia-related knowledge) and interpersonal interactions (i.e., familism). Healthcare professionals may have a key role in building caregivers' resilience and contribute to implications for policy and practice.