H049 Does social support predict quality of life for carers of people with Huntington’s disease?
Year: 2024
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Background Previous research has investigated predictors of quality of life (QoL) for carers of people with Huntington’s disease (HD) such as demographics, caring characteristics and illness-related variables of the person with HD. However, the investigation of psychosocial variables has been limited. Here we use data from Enroll-HD to investigate the importance of social support for carer QoL. Aims 1) To investigate whether social support predicts QoL for HD carers when controlling for demographics and HD illness-related variables. 2) To investigate whether social support buffers (i.e. moderates) the relationship between illness-related variables and QoL. Methods Participants were 880 carers of people with manifest HD enrolled in Enroll-HD. Multiple regressions were conducted to predict two subscales of the HD QoL for carers questionnaire (positive and negative feelings). Predictors were carer demographics, HD illness-related variables (behavioural/psychological, cognitive and motor difficulties and functional ability), and social support (satisfaction with family relationships and friendships). Moderation analyses tested whether the social support variables moderated the relationship between illness-related variables and positive and negative feelings. Results The two regression models were significant predicting 18% and 30% of the variance (for negative and positive feelings respectively). Both social support variables were significant independent predictors of the QoL in both models. Social support accounted for 9% and 21% of the variance (for negative and positive feelings respectively). All moderation models were non-significant. Conclusions Contextual factors such as social support are important for QoL for HD carers, although social support may not buffer the negative effects of symptoms of HD.
Authors: Hannah Ross, Jane Simpson, Maria Dale, Fiona Eccles
Institutions: Lancaster University, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4402374317