O'Sullivan, Michael, Brennan, Sabina, Lawlor, Brian A., Hannigan, Caoimhe, Robertson, Ian H. and Pertl, Maria M. (2019) Cognitive functioning among cognitively intact dementia caregivers compared to matched self-selected and population controls. Aging & Mental Health, 23 (5). pp. 566-573. ISSN 1364-6915
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Purpose of the study: Caregiving for a person with dementia is frequently used to model the impact of chronic stress on health, including cognitive functioning. However, the prevalence of typically healthier, self-selecting non-caregiving control groups could contribute to a picture of poorer caregiver performance and overstate the negative effects of stress. We investigated differences in cognitive performance between dementia caregivers and two groups of non-caregivers recruited using different sampling methods.
Design and methods: We compared cognitive function and psychological wellbeing among 252 spousal dementia caregivers with demographically matched non-caregiving control groups drawn from (1) a population study and (2) a self-selecting sample. Comparable cognitive measures included immediate and delayed recall, processing speed reaction time and verbal fluency.
Results: Caregiver and non-caregiver performance was comparable on most cognitive domains. However, caregivers outperformed both control groups on processing speed (p ≤ .05) and reaction time (p ≤ .05), despite having higher levels of stress and depression (ps < .001). Furthermore, caregivers had significantly better free recall than self-selecting controls (p < .001).
Implications: Our results, overall, do not support the idea that caregiving is associated with stress-induced cognitive deficits. Rather, the trend toward better caregiver performance is consistent with the healthy caregiver hypothesis.
Item Type: | Article |
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Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology > Cognition |
Divisions: | School of Business > Staff Research and Publications |
Depositing User: | Caoimhe Ní Mhaicín |
Date Deposited: | 24 Sep 2018 09:53 |
Last Modified: | 24 May 2019 09:16 |
URI: | https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/3182 |
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