Caregivers' Needs and problems toward Care of patients with Dementia

Caregivers of patient with dementia often called the invisible second patients. The effects of being a caregiver, though sometimes positive, are generally negative, with high rates of burden and psychological morbidity as well as social isolation. Purposeof the study: was to assess caregivers' needs and problems toward care of patients with dementia. Design:  A descriptive research design was utilized. Setting:The present study conducted at out- patient clinic of Alkhanka Mental Health Hospital. Sampling:Simple random sample used in the study and total number of the sample was 150 caregivers who had patients (≥ 50 yrs) having dementia.Instruments:Two instruments were used. 1 Structured interviewing questionnaire. It contained 5 parts (A. Socio-demographic characteristic of demented patient, B. Socio-demographic characteristic of caregivers, C. Caregivers' knowledge about dementia, D.Caregivers' needs and problems. E. Caregivers' reported practice). 2 An Attitude rating scale and Burden scale. Results:Female caregivers of demented patients were more than males, 49.3% of caregivers had average knowledge, 52.7% of them had satisfactory practice, 70.7% of caregivers had positive attitude and 50.7% had moderate burden. Conclusion: Caregivers of demented patients have financial, physical and psychological problems. Needs of caregivers of demented patients are financial, social, emotional, physical and personal needs. There was highly statistical significant positiverelation between total knowledge of caregivers and their total needs. There was a highly statistical significant positive relation between total practices of caregivers and their total needs as well as problems. Also, there was a positive statistical significantrelation between total attitude of caregivers and their total needs.Recommendation: Increase awareness of caregivers about community resources and how to gain access to them through mass-media, develop a health educational program for caregivers in neuro-psychiatric out-patient clinic to provide them with needed knowledge about disease process, therapeutic activities and positive behavior interaction.