A - 26Awareness of Psychiatric Symptoms and Caregiver Distress Among Older Adults in a Memory Disorders Clinic
Year: 2018
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Objective: Reduced awareness of symptoms is common in dementia and contributes to caregiver burden. Unawareness of psychiatric symptoms, in which a patient does not agree with a caregiver report, is not well understood. This study aims to characterize the frequency with which unawareness of psychiatric symptoms occurs in patients with cognitive impairment and its influence on caregiver distress. Method: Adults aged 65 and older (M = 74) seen at an outpatient neurology clinic for neuropsychological evaluation (N = 855, 52% female) were studied. The presence or absence of psychiatric symptoms was based on self-report using published criteria for the 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale (>10) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (>8). Caregiver ratings of depression and anxiety, and associated distress, were determined using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire. Unawareness was defined as when a caregiver rates a patient as depressed or anxious and the patient self-report does not agree. Results: Among patients rated as depressed by caregivers, 65% of patients also reported depression while 26% did not. The unaware group had lower ratings of caregiver distress than the group with awareness (p < 0.01). Among patients rated as anxious by caregivers, 61% of patients agreed and 18% did not. There were no differences in caregiver distress between patients with or without awareness of anxiety (p = 0.096). Conclusions: Unawareness of psychiatric symptoms is common in this clinical sample and may signify challenges for treatment or need for caregiver education. Additionally, unlike unawareness of cognitive or functional decline, unawareness of psychiatric symptoms is not associated with increased caregiver distress.
Authors: H Brunet, J Cummings, S Banks, J Miller
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2896905154