Page 123 - GHES-2-3

Global Health Economics and
Sustainability

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Psychological distress in family caregivers of

people with Alzheimer’s disease: Positive and
negative aspects of caregiving

José M. Ponsoda 1 and Amelia Díaz *
2
1 Department of Developmental and Education Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of
Alicante, Alicante, Spain
2 Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatments, Faculty of Psychology,
University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

Abstract

Research focusing on family caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease (PWAD)
has predominantly highlighted the negative aspects of caregiving, reporting
variables associated with poor mental health such as depression, anxiety, and
burden. In recent decades, efforts have also been made to study positive variables
associated with care, such as gain (positive results from the caregiving activity),
satisfaction, and quality of life. The present study includes both positive and negative
aspects of caregivers of PWAD, aiming to clarify their relationships and how they
affect psychological distress. The study employed a cross-sectional descriptive
Academic editor: design, enrolling a sample consisting of 140 family caregivers of PWAD. The variables
Mihajlo Jakovljevic M.D. Ph.D. MAE
assessed as negative aspects included hours of care per day, perceived burden, and
*Corresponding author: psychological distress, while happiness, gain in caregiving, and quality of life were
Amelia Díaz
(amelia.diaz@uv.es) assessed as positive aspects. The results confirmed that family caregivers of PWAD
experience both negative and positive aspects associated with caregiving. The
Citation: Ponsoda, J.M. & Díaz, A. relationship between these aspects is inversed: as the perceived burden increases,
(2024). Psychological distress in
family caregivers of people with the mental health of the caregiver declines, and the positive aspects associated with
Alzheimer’s disease: Positive and caregiving decrease. Specifically, the perception of happiness begins to decrease
negative aspects of caregiving. with more than 15 h of care/day, while the perception of gain increases after 10 h
Global Health Econ Sustain,
2(3):3145. of care/day. Respite care or financial aid that helps PWAD family caregivers reduce
https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.3145 the number of hours dedicated to caring, along with psychological and support
Received: March 12, 2024 interventions to reduce subjective burden, would result in improved mental health
of caregivers of PWAD.
Accepted: May 8, 2024
Published Online: August 20, 2024
Keywords: Family caregivers; Alzheimer’s disease; Psychological distress; Perceived
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). burden; Happiness; Gain in caregiving; Quality of life
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, 1. Introduction
provided the original work is
properly cited. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of people with
Publisher’s Note: AccScience dementia worldwide reached 55 million in 2023, with 10 million new cases diagnosed
Publishing remains neutral with each year. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, accounting for
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional 60 – 70% of the total cases, which represents between 33 and 38.5 million Alzheimer’s
affiliations. disease cases globally. Dementia presents a gender bias, with women being more

Volume 2 Issue 3 (2024) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.3145