Investigating burden of informal caregivers in England, Finland
and Greece: an analysis with the short form of the Burden Scale
for Family Caregivers (BSFC-s) Journal Article
In: Aging Ment Health, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 280–287, 2016.
@article{Konerding2016-vh,
title = {Investigating burden of informal caregivers in England, Finland
and Greece: an analysis with the short form of the Burden Scale
for Family Caregivers (BSFC-s)},
author = {Uwe Konerding and Tom Bowen and Paul Forte and Eleftheria Karampli and Tomi Malmström and Elpida Pavi and Paulus Torkki and Elmar Graessel},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-10-01},
journal = {Aging Ment Health},
volume = {22},
number = {2},
pages = {280--287},
address = {England},
abstract = {OBJECTIVES: The burden of informal caregivers might show itself
in different ways in different cultures. Understanding these
differences is important for developing culture-specific measures
aimed at alleviating caregiver burden. Hitherto, no findings
regarding such cultural differences between different European
countries were available. In this paper, differences between
English, Finnish and Greek informal caregivers of people with
dementia are investigated. METHODS: A secondary analysis was
performed with data from 36 English, 42 Finnish and 46 Greek
caregivers obtained with the short form of the Burden Scale for
Family Caregivers (BSFC-s). The probabilities of endorsing the
BSFC-s items were investigated by computing a logit model with
items and countries as categorical factors. Statistically
significant deviation of data from this model was taken as
evidence for country-specific response patterns. RESULTS: The
two-factorial logit model explains the responses to the items
quite well (McFadden's pseudo-R-square: 0.77). There are,
however, also statistically significant deviations (p < 0.05).
English caregivers have a stronger tendency to endorse items
addressing impairments in individual well-being; Finnish
caregivers have a stronger tendency to endorse items addressing
the conflict between the demands resulting from care and demands
resulting from the remaining social life and Greek caregivers
have a stronger tendency to endorse items addressing impairments
in physical health. CONCLUSION: Caregiver burden shows itself
differently in English, Finnish and Greek caregivers.
Accordingly, measures for alleviating caregiver burden in these
three countries should address different aspects of the
caregivers' lives.},
keywords = {Dementia; caregiver burden; comparison between European countries; cultural differences; informal caregivers},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
OBJECTIVES: The burden of informal caregivers might show itself
in different ways in different cultures. Understanding these
differences is important for developing culture-specific measures
aimed at alleviating caregiver burden. Hitherto, no findings
regarding such cultural differences between different European
countries were available. In this paper, differences between
English, Finnish and Greek informal caregivers of people with
dementia are investigated. METHODS: A secondary analysis was
performed with data from 36 English, 42 Finnish and 46 Greek
caregivers obtained with the short form of the Burden Scale for
Family Caregivers (BSFC-s). The probabilities of endorsing the
BSFC-s items were investigated by computing a logit model with
items and countries as categorical factors. Statistically
significant deviation of data from this model was taken as
evidence for country-specific response patterns. RESULTS: The
two-factorial logit model explains the responses to the items
quite well (McFadden's pseudo-R-square: 0.77). There are,
however, also statistically significant deviations (p < 0.05).
English caregivers have a stronger tendency to endorse items
addressing impairments in individual well-being; Finnish
caregivers have a stronger tendency to endorse items addressing
the conflict between the demands resulting from care and demands
resulting from the remaining social life and Greek caregivers
have a stronger tendency to endorse items addressing impairments
in physical health. CONCLUSION: Caregiver burden shows itself
differently in English, Finnish and Greek caregivers.
Accordingly, measures for alleviating caregiver burden in these
three countries should address different aspects of the
caregivers' lives.