Residential placement of patients with dementia : relationship to care recipient and caregiver variables

Graduation date: 2000The occurrence and timing of residential care of patients with dementia is\ud impacted by several care recipient and caregiver variables. Previous research has\ud shown a strong relationship among residential placement and marital status,\ud cognitive decline, deterioration in functional abilities, and presence of behavior\ud problems in the care recipient. Research on caregivers has shown that, as the stress\ud of caregiving increases and the well-being of the caregiver decreases, residential\ud care is more likely to occur. Previous studies, however, have not explored the\ud impact of problem behaviors over time or the impact of caregiver variables on the\ud timing of residential placement. This study was designed to examine the\ud relationship among care recipients' change in behavior over time and caregivers'\ud physical and mental well-being and the occurrence and the timing of residential\ud placement.\ud The sample used for this study was derived from a larger sample identified\ud as having dementia at the Oregon Alzheimer's Disease Center at Oregon Health\ud Sciences University. The caregivers of these patients were sent a questionnaire\ud asking about physical and mental well-being and the current placement of the care\ud recipient. From the returned questionnaires (n=100), a subset of caregivers\ud (n=23) identified as having chosen residential care for their relatives were\ud interviewed regarding the timing and reasons for residential care.\ud Relationships among residential placement of patients with dementia and\ud several care recipient and caregiver variables were shown in this study. Multiple\ud regression equations indicated a significant relationship between the caregiver\ud scores on the CES-D, caregiver employment status, Activities of Daily Living\ud (ADL) scores, and behavior change over time of the care recipient and the\ud occurrence of residential care of the care recipient. Further, a Cox proportion\ud model illustrated that depression and employment status of the caregiver, type of\ud relationship between caregivers and care recipients, and ADL and behavior change\ud scores in the care recipients were significantly related to the timing of residential\ud care