Korean J Women Health Nurs.  2009 Sep;15(3):196-204. 10.4069/kjwhn.2009.15.3.196.

Comparison in Care Burden, Fatigue, and Life Contentment of Caregivers by Gender Relationship with Demented Elders

• Lee YW
• Cho IS
• Kim HS

• KMID: 2308407
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4069/kjwhn.2009.15.3.196

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was done in order to examine the differences in gender respect to care burden, fatigue, and life contentment of family caregivers of elderly with dementia. METHODS: The setting of the study was a community-based dementia care center providing daycare services. One hundred ninety four caregivers were recruited for the survey. A structured questionnaire was used which included demographic information, care burden, fatigue, and general contentment scales. Caregivers were classified into 4 groups by gender relationship with care recipients. RESULTS: The majority of the caregivers were middle-aged and elderly. More than twice as many were female rather than male caregivers. The results showed that women caregivers expressed more fatigue than men overall (p< .05). In the gender relationships, a different combination of man-woman appeared to have more burdens than that of a woman-woman group (p< .05). For fatigue, the man caregiver-woman elderly group showed a higher fatigue score than a woman-man group (p< .05). However, there was no significant difference in life contentment among groups. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that caregiver's gender and gender relationship with elders could be considerable factors when the nurses make a plan in the community for dementia nursing management services.

Keyword

Sex differences; Elderly; Caregivers; Fatigue; Personal satisfaction

MeSH Terms

Aged
Caregivers
Dementia
Fatigue
Female
Humans
Male
Personal Satisfaction
Surveys and Questionnaires
Sex Characteristics
Weights and Measures

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