P3-305: Evaluation of a manualized psychoeducational program for primary caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease: Its impact on caregivers' quality of life and depressive symptoms-A single-blinded longitudinal study

ABSTRACTBackground: The validity of self-reported quality-of-life (QoL) assessments of people with dementia (PWD) is a critical issue. We designed this study to determine the non-cognitive factors that are associated with self-reported QoL and PWD QoL as rated by family caregivers.Methods: Using a cross-sectional study, we assessed QoL of 41 people with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). The individuals with AD and their family caregivers completed the Quality of Life in Alzheimer's Disease Scale (QoL-AD), the Assessment Scale of Psychosocial Impact of the Diagnosis of Dementia (ASPIDD), the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale, the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD), the Pfeffer Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ), and the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were conducted to examine the contribution of the various cofactors.Results: We observed a significant difference (t = 3.292, p < 0.01, d = 0.727) in the QoL measures of PWD after comparing self-reported assessments with the assessments of family caregivers. Linear regression analysis demonstrated that awareness of disease was related to PWD QoL-AD scores. Both the education levels of family caregivers and the depressive symptoms in PWD were related to the family caregivers’ ratings of PWD QoL.Conclusions: The difference between self-reported QoL and family caregivers’ ratings of QoL in people with mild dementia indicated that cognitive impairment was not the primary factor that accounted for the differences in the QoL assessments. Our findings suggested that non-cognitive factors, such as awareness of disease and depressive symptoms, played an important role in the differences between the self-reported AD QoL ratings and the caregivers’ AD QoL ratings. A major implication is that discrete measures such as cognition or level of function are likely to miss important factors that influence QoL.

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Proxy-rated quality of life in Alzheimer's disease: a three-year longitudinal study

International Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1017/s1041610211001128 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 82-89 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Asmus Vogel ◽

Suvosree Bhattacharya ◽

Frans B. Waldorff ◽

Gunhild Waldemar

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Primary Caregivers ◽

Individual Variations ◽

Home Living ◽

State Examination ◽

Eq Vas

ABSTRACTBackground: The study investigated the change in proxy rated quality of life (QoL) of a large cohort of home living patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) over a period of 36 months.Methods: The sample consisted of 102 patients with mild AD and their primary caregivers from the Danish Alzheimer's Disease Intervention Study. QoL was assessed with the proxy-rated (primary caregivers) Quality of Life in Alzheimer Disease scale (QOL-AD) and the EuroQuol Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS) scale. The Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD), Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study, Activities of Daily living Inventory (ADCS-ADL), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI-Q) were also applied. Evaluations were conducted at baseline and at 12 and 36 months follow-up.Results: There was a significant decline in mean QoL assessed by both the QOL-AD and the EQ-VAS (p < 0.001). There were vast individual differences in the QoL scores on both scales at 12 and 36 months’ follow-up. Mean change from baseline in QOL-AD was significantly associated with change in CSDD, ADCS-ADL and MMSE scores at 12 months and with ADCS-ADL score at 36 months.Conclusion: QoL is a subjective concept and may not be influenced by the degree of cognitive dysfunction. Future studies should investigate the factors for individual variations in order to understand the nature of change of QoL in AD and the wide variation in QoL scores over time.

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