Self Perceptions of Stress in Caregiving Moderate Associations of Within and Between Caregivers’ Physical Health Symptoms

Background:
The success of dementia care requires the full support from the caregivers with the goal of delaying the disease’s progress. Studies over decades have reinforced that the knowledge, attitude, andskills of caregivers are crucial parameters of the success of in-community care for dementia. Nevertheless,studies have identified that many caregivers, across different culture and ethicity, are not well prepared emotionally or practically to be the caregivers and this will result in stress, particularly when their stress are ignored by medical professionals during this long journey of care.

Method:
This is a mixed-method research to examine how self-perceptions of aging (SPA) moderated within-and between-caregivers Self-perceived stress (SPS) associations with physiological health symptoms (PHS)and daily physical health symptoms (DPHS). SPA was measured by the Philadelphia Geriatric Centre Morale scale. SPS was measured by Zarit Burden Interview Scale and Revised Memory and Behaviour Problem Checklist. DPHS was measured daily through an adapted symptom checklist.

Result:
A pilot study of 20 caregivers reported significantly more physical health symptoms compared to individuals with lower perceived stress on average (p< .05). SPA significantly moderated associations between both within- and between-persons perceived stress (SPS) and physiological health symptoms (PHS)(ps < .05).

Conclusion:
More positive SPA significantly dampened the impact of perceived stress, suggesting the importance of SPA as an individual characteristic within stress processes. Future work should examine how daily changes in SPA may exacerbate or mitigate the impacts of daily stress processes and health outcomes.