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)

Konerding U, Bowen T, Forte P, Karampli E, Malmström T, Pavi E, Torkki P, Grässel E (2016)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2016

Journal

Aging & Mental Health Taylor & Francis (Routledge): STM, Behavioural Science and Public Health Titles / Taylor & Francis (Routledge)

Pages Range: 1-8

DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2016.1239064

Abstract

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.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.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.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.

Authors with CRIS profile

Elmar Grässel Medizinische Fakultät

Additional Organisation(s)

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

Involved external institutions

Aalto University Espoo FI Finland (FI) National School of Public Health (NSPH) GR Greece (GR) Balance of Care Group GB United Kingdom (GB) Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Konerding, U., Bowen, T., Forte, P., Karampli, E., Malmström, T., Pavi, E.,... Grässel, E. (2016). 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). Aging & Mental Health, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2016.1239064

MLA:

Konerding, Uwe, et al. "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)." Aging & Mental Health (2016): 1-8.

BibTeX: Download