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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: The relationship of specific dementia-related behaviors to caregiver depression and moderating factors is unclear. We examined the role of rejection of care, aggression and agitation to caregiver depression and if social support and mastery independently moderated associations.
METHODS: Cross-sectional, secondary analysis using baseline data from two community-based clinical trials. We examined frequency of occurrence of presenting behaviors and their combinations in persons with dementia. Multiple logistic regression analyses examined associations between non-overlapping behavioral clusters (agitation alone, agitation + rejection, agitation + aggression, and agitation + rejection + aggression) and caregiver depression. Multiple logistic regression with interaction terms was also used to investigate whether social support or caregiver mastery moderated the relationship between behavioral symptom clusters and caregiver depression.
RESULTS: Three of four symptom clusters (all three behaviors [AOR=2.22, 95% CI=1.02-4.83], agitation + rejection of care [AOR=2.55, 95% CI=1.06-6.13], and agitation + aggression [AOR=2.63, 95% CI=1.17-5.89]) had a positive association with caregiver depression, whereas agitation alone was not significantly associated with caregiver depression. Neither social support nor mastery significantly moderated the relationship between these three behavioral clusters and caregiver depression.
CONCLUSION: Caregiver depression was associated with different combinations of behaviors but not with agitation alone. These results have implications for intervention development and identifying caregivers at risk for depression. Level of social support and mastery do not appear to moderate impact on caregiver depression.
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Language: en |