Correlates of intrusion and avoidance as stress response symptoms in family carers of patients suffering from dementia

Abstract

Aims: To explore intrusion and avoidance in family carers of dementia patients.

Method: We studied 196 family carers of 196 home-dwelling dementia patients. Carers were assessed by the Impact of Events Scale (IES), the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Distress scale of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI-D), and patients with the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Disability Assessment for Dementia (DAD), and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI).

Results: Twenty carers (10%) scored above 19 on the intrusion and avoidance subscales of the IES, whereas 90 (47%) scored above 8 on both subscales. This moderate to high stress response was independently explained by being a spouse (OR 3.74 (95% CI 1.81-7.74)), high scores on GDS (OR 1.12 (95% CI 1.06-1.18) per unit increase) and high score on NPI-D (OR 1.05 (95% CI 1.01-1.09) per unit increase).

Conclusions: Spouses and other family carers having daily contact with patients with dementia experience moderate to high levels of intrusion and avoidance. These symptoms are associated with symptoms of anxiety, distress and depression and should be taken into account when tailoring interventions for carers.