Caregiver burden among family caregivers of patients with presenile dementia

在我们研究的第一年，我们比较了患有额颞叶变性(FTLD)的老年前期患者和阿尔茨海默病(AD)患者，以了解他们在家庭护理方面的问题。我们的结果显示，FTLD患者表现出特殊的家庭照顾问题，这是由于“顺从”行为、不坚持和冲动造成的。另一方面，AD患者对如何进行ADL感到困惑，拒绝合作，因此需要更多的护理。因此，从家庭护理的角度来看，问题应该根据痴呆的类型而有所不同。2003年，一项更详细的调查表明，FTLD患者在ADL护理方面表现出不合作的态度。此外，患者异常的饮食行为、刻板的行为和去抑制使家庭护理变得更加困难。因此，我们认为照顾者有机会全面接触到各种特定症状的信息，并得到整个社会的理解和支持是至关重要的。2004年，我们对老年前期痴呆症患者、老年痴呆症患者及其各自的照顾者的照顾情况进行了比较调查。在本研究的最后一年，我们发现，老年组的照顾者负担与患者的疾病或照护情况等诸多变量有关，而老年前组的照顾者负担与照顾者的健康问题有很强的相关性。鉴于此，本研究建议改善照顾者服务，向公众提供更多关于老年前痴呆的信息，同时通过使照顾者更容易获得直接的身体和心理护理来减轻照顾者的负担。

In the first year of our study, we compared presenile patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) to patients with Alzheimer's. disease (AD) in order to understand their problems in relation to caregiving at home. Our results showed that the FTLD patients presented special home caregiving problems due to "going my way" behavior, impersistence, and impulsivity. The AD patients, on the other hand, were confused regarding how to go about their ADL and refused to cooperate, thus necessitating more care. Therefore, the problems from a home care standpoint were suggested to differ in terms of the type of dementia.In 2003,a more detailed investigation indicated that FTLD patients showed uncooperative attitudes regarding their ADL care. Also, the patients' abnormal eating behavior, stereotypic behavior, and disinhibition made home care more difficult. We, therefore, consider it crucial for caregivers to have thorough access to a wide range of symptom-specific information and to have the understanding and support of society as a whole.In 2004, we undertook a comparative survey of the caregiving situation of presenile dementia patients, senile dementia patients, and their respective caregivers. Compared to the senile group, the presenile group tended to receive less emotional support from health professionals and use fewer care services.In the final year of our study, we found that the caregiver burden for the senile group had associations with many variables involving the patients' illness or caregiving situation, while the care burden for the presenile group had a strong correlation with caregiver health issues.In light of the foregoing, the present study suggested the need for improving care services and providing the public with more information on presenile dementia, and at the same time lessening care burden by making direct physical and psychological care more avilable to caregivers.