Abstract:
Dementia is a neurological disease that affects cognitive functioning. Those who suffer from dementia lose their cognitive abilities and the ability to care for themselves, and as the disease progresses, they often require assistance with daily living. The purpose of this study was to examine familial caregivers – specifically adult children -- of Alzheimer patients. This study investigated (1) sociocultural factors that may contribute to the decision to take on the caregiver role (i.e., gender roles and cultural beliefs); (2) family-level factors that may contribute to burden (i.e., family decision making process, family coping), and (3) health habits associated with caregiver burden (i.e., alcohol and drug use). A total of 391 family caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients were recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk website. This study showed that sociocultural factors contribute to the decision to care for a parent, family-level factors contribute to burden, and health habits are associated with that burden.
