Santé psychique et fardeau des aidants familiaux de personnes atteintes de la maladie d’Alzheimer ou de troubles apparentés

Abstract

The North-American studies on Alzheimer disease highlight the family caregivers burden and his consequences on anxiety, depression and hostility. In France, few authors study the burden and the mental health of the caregivers of a demented relative. This study aims at determining the relation between the burden and the psychic health of French family caregivers, that is to say their level of depression, anxiety, hostility and wellbeing. This study concerns family caregivers of a demented relative living in Paris and the provinces. An interview makes it possible to collect sociodemographic data and the characteristics of caregivers–carereceivers dyads (family tie, cohabitation and recourse to the professional assistances inter alia). Then we apply self-rating scales measuring the burden, the anxiety, the depression, the wellbeing, the hostility and the perceived social support. It seems to exist a relation between a high burden on the one hand and a worse psychic health on the other hand. Four factors seems to be implicated in the feeling of burden: the levels of depression and hostility, the perceived social support and being the only family caregiver. These first data will be used in evaluating different support interventions for French family caregivers.