Clinical study on the mediating effects of social support on the burden of primary caregivers for Parkinson's patients and their quality of life / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To examine the burden of caregivers for elderly Parkinson's patients(PD)and to analyze the mediating effects of social support on primary PD caregivers' burden and their quality of life.Methods:In this cross-sectional study, 281 primary caregivers for elderly Parkinson's patients who visited the Department of Neurology's outpatient clinics of Qilu Hospital of Shandong University from January to May 2021 were surveyed via a convenience sampling method, with 242 valid questionnaires(86.1%). The Chinese versions of the Caregiver Burden Questionnaire, Social Support Rating Scale and 36-Item Short Form Health Survey were used for the investigation.Pearson correlation analysis was used to establish a structural equation model for the influence of social support in the burden and quality of life of caregivers for PD patients.The mediating effects were tested using Process v2.16.3 and re-tested using AMOS.The mediating effects were validated with Bootstrap.Results:Primary caregivers' scores on burden, social support and quality of life were(26.9±23.1), (40.5±8.7)and(593.7±163.3), respectively.Caregiver burden was negatively correlated with social support(r=-0.482, P<0.01), and social support was positively correlated with quality of life(r=0.513, P<0.01). Caregiver burden was negatively correlated with quality of life( r=-0.654, P<0.01), The validated mediating effects showed caregiver burden's direct effects on quality of life(95% CI -0.38-0.61)and mediating effects of social support(95% CI -0.08-0.21), not including 0, indicating that the care burden of primary caregivers for elderly PD patients was not only able to predict their quality of life, but also predict their quality of life through the mediating effects of social support(direct effect -0.50 and mediating effect -0.14, accounting for 78.0% and 22.0%, respectively, of the total effect of -0.64). Conclusions:Care burden and social support are important factors affecting the quality of life of primary caregivers for elderly PD patients.Reducing care burden can not only directly affect the quality of life, but also indirectly affect the quality of life by increasing social support.