Objective: It is known that caring for a person suffering from dementia is stressful, but little is known about the positive aspects of caring. The objective of the study was to identify activities enjoyed by patients with Alzheimer’s disease on their own and those enjoyed by their carers as part of caregiving, and to examine the relationship between activities enjoyed and psychological morbidity in carers.
Design: Cross-sectional single group.
Materials and Methods: 50 carers of patients suffering from dementia were asked to complete Pleasant Activities Schedule- AD which gives overall ‘ENJOY’ score for activities enjoyed by patients in previous month. Psychological morbidity in carers was assessed using General Health Questionnaire (GHQ 12). Cognitive functioning (Mini-Mental State Examination), depressive (Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia) and behavioural (Revised Memory and Behaviour Problems Checklist, RMBP) symptoms in patients were assessed as possible confounders for the relationship between ‘ENJOY’ and GHQ 12 scores.
Results: A number of activities enjoyed by patients and by carers as part of caregiving were identified. Pleasant activities enjoyed by the patients (‘ENJOY’ scores) and cares reaction to behavioural problems in patients (RMBP reaction scores) were independent predictors of psychological morbidity (GHQ 12) in carers (r = -0.15, p=0.013 and r=0.24, p <0.001 respectively).
Conclusion: Identifying and encouraging activities enjoyed by patients may be a useful carer intervention strategy to reduce strain on carers of people suffering from dementia.
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