Abstract
Objective: The authors examined the association between treatable comorbid psychosocial symptoms and quality of life (QOL) in patients with dementia. In an effort to develop a more comprehensive understanding of this relationship, this study included both patient reports of their QOL and caregiver reports of patient QOL. Methods: Eighty-nine dyads, consisting of a community-residing veteran with dementia and his family caregiver, were interviewed once to determine the correlation between patient QOL and depression, functional disability, pain, and agitation. Results: Higher patient-rated QOL was significantly associated with lower patient depression. Higher caregiver-rated patient QOL was associated with lower caregiver depression and higher patient functional status. Agitation was not related to patient-rated or caregiver-rated patient QOL. Conclusions: Authors discuss the psychometric and conceptual implications of possible differences between self- and other-ratings of QOL, and treatment implications for caregiver-education interventions.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 393-401 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2005 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geriatrics and Gerontology
- Psychiatry and Mental health