Factors Affecting Burden of Family Caregivers of Community-Dwelling Ambulatory Elders with Dementia in Korea

The purpose of the study was to test a staged causal model as a theoretical base to explain the burden of family caregivers of community-dwelling self-ambulatory persons with dementia (PWDs) in Korea. The model contained three stages including antecedents (Stage 1), behavior (Stage 2), and outcome (Stage 3). The antecedents were variables of the PWDs (e.g., cognitive impairment and activities of daily living [ADL] dependency of the PWDs) and caregiver variables (e.g., age, gender of caregiver, and the relationship of caregiver to PWD). Stage 2 focused on wandering behavior. In Stage 3, the outcome variable was caregiver burden. A total of 83 noninstitutionalized, community-dwelling elders with dementia and their family caregivers participated. The instruments used in this study were the Korean version of Mini Mental State Examination, K-PADL (Korean-Physical Activities of Daily Living), Korean-Revised Algase Wandering Scale-Community Version, and K-CWOB (Caregiver Worry, Overload, and Role Captivity Scale-Korean) Korean versions of standardized Western instruments. Results indicate that cognitive impairment and ADL dependency had an indirect influence on caregiver burden through wandering behavior. In addition, caregiver age had a direct impact on caregiver burden. The findings of this study suggest that further refinement of the underlying model is warranted.