Abstract
Introduction: The frequency of Alzheimer's dementia is increasing, with an impact on family dynamics, making it necessary to know the main aspects of the disease. The purpose of this article was to describe the burnout of the caregiver of a patient with Alzheimer's and their knowledge about the disease.
Materials and methods: Observational and descriptive study, which included family members over 18 years of age, of both sexes, caring for patients with Alzheimer's dementia. A Zarit scale was used to assess caregiver burnout and the Alzheimer Disease Knowledge scale for knowledge about the disease. Descriptive statistics, the chi-square test and the Kruskal Wallis H test were used for data analysis.
Results: 147 family members, between 24 and 75 years old, 72.1% women. Relationship to the patient: 39.5% son/daughter, wife 20.4%. Time as a caregiver between one and five years. 30% of family members have intense overload and 15% have light overload. Knowledge was regular, correct answers between 11 and 60%, the domains with the lowest percentage of correct answers were related to patient care and course of the disease.
Discussion: Caregiver overload has been related to age, phase of the disease and functional dependence, schooling and occupation have discordant results. Unlike previous studies, there is less knowledge about the disease, especially in risk factors with a negative correlation with patient care
Conclusions: This article showed that the majority of caregivers are women, married, housewives, of whom 45% have some degree of burnout and a medium level of knowledge; burnout was not related to the level of knowledge.
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