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An Investigation of the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Family Caregivers of Patients with Alzheimer's Disease

Received: 21 March 2019     Accepted: 25 April 2019     Published: 23 May 2019
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Abstract

Objective To investigate the current status of the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of primary home caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). To propose targeted intervention measures to improve home caregivers’ ability of caring, by analyzing influencing factors. Methods 76 family caregivers of patients diagnosed as AD in a third-class hospital in Guangzhou were selected for this survey of convenient sampling. These patients were followed up at home after discharge from the hospital, and their main family caregivers were investigated by knowledge, attitude, practice questionnaire. Results The total scores of knowledge, attitude and practice of the home caregivers of AD patients respectively were (53.16±8.78), (33.53±4.69), (56.34±13.39). There were statistically significant differences between the self-care ability of patients, the occurrence of AD symptoms and the knowledge score of caregivers (P < 0.05). The age of the caregiver was negatively correlated with attitude. The younger caregiver obtained the higher attitude score. And more knowledge about the patient's condition resulted in higher practice score and care ability. Conclusions The scores of home caregivers of patients with AD remain low in knowledge, attitude and practice, so it is necessary to strengthen the health education and care guidance for these caregivers. In this way, the caregivers can obtain more social support to improve their ability to care for patients.

Published in International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences (Volume 4, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190401.11
Page(s) 1-6
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Alzheimer’s Disease, Family Caregiver, Home Care, Knowledge, Attitude and Practice

References
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  • APA Style

    Liu Guilin, Lin Qingran, Huang Ruiying, Zhai Cuiqiu, Li Yunjia. (2019). An Investigation of the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Family Caregivers of Patients with Alzheimer's Disease. International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 4(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190401.11

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    ACS Style

    Liu Guilin; Lin Qingran; Huang Ruiying; Zhai Cuiqiu; Li Yunjia. An Investigation of the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Family Caregivers of Patients with Alzheimer's Disease. Int. J. Psychol. Brain Sci. 2019, 4(1), 1-6. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190401.11

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    AMA Style

    Liu Guilin, Lin Qingran, Huang Ruiying, Zhai Cuiqiu, Li Yunjia. An Investigation of the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Family Caregivers of Patients with Alzheimer's Disease. Int J Psychol Brain Sci. 2019;4(1):1-6. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190401.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190401.11,
      author = {Liu Guilin and Lin Qingran and Huang Ruiying and Zhai Cuiqiu and Li Yunjia},
      title = {An Investigation of the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Family Caregivers of Patients with Alzheimer's Disease},
      journal = {International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences},
      volume = {4},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-6},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190401.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190401.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijpbs.20190401.11},
      abstract = {Objective To investigate the current status of the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of primary home caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). To propose targeted intervention measures to improve home caregivers’ ability of caring, by analyzing influencing factors. Methods 76 family caregivers of patients diagnosed as AD in a third-class hospital in Guangzhou were selected for this survey of convenient sampling. These patients were followed up at home after discharge from the hospital, and their main family caregivers were investigated by knowledge, attitude, practice questionnaire. Results The total scores of knowledge, attitude and practice of the home caregivers of AD patients respectively were (53.16±8.78), (33.53±4.69), (56.34±13.39). There were statistically significant differences between the self-care ability of patients, the occurrence of AD symptoms and the knowledge score of caregivers (P Conclusions The scores of home caregivers of patients with AD remain low in knowledge, attitude and practice, so it is necessary to strengthen the health education and care guidance for these caregivers. In this way, the caregivers can obtain more social support to improve their ability to care for patients.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - An Investigation of the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Family Caregivers of Patients with Alzheimer's Disease
    AU  - Liu Guilin
    AU  - Lin Qingran
    AU  - Huang Ruiying
    AU  - Zhai Cuiqiu
    AU  - Li Yunjia
    Y1  - 2019/05/23
    PY  - 2019
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190401.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190401.11
    T2  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
    JF  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
    JO  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
    SP  - 1
    EP  - 6
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-1573
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190401.11
    AB  - Objective To investigate the current status of the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of primary home caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). To propose targeted intervention measures to improve home caregivers’ ability of caring, by analyzing influencing factors. Methods 76 family caregivers of patients diagnosed as AD in a third-class hospital in Guangzhou were selected for this survey of convenient sampling. These patients were followed up at home after discharge from the hospital, and their main family caregivers were investigated by knowledge, attitude, practice questionnaire. Results The total scores of knowledge, attitude and practice of the home caregivers of AD patients respectively were (53.16±8.78), (33.53±4.69), (56.34±13.39). There were statistically significant differences between the self-care ability of patients, the occurrence of AD symptoms and the knowledge score of caregivers (P Conclusions The scores of home caregivers of patients with AD remain low in knowledge, attitude and practice, so it is necessary to strengthen the health education and care guidance for these caregivers. In this way, the caregivers can obtain more social support to improve their ability to care for patients.
    VL  - 4
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Nursing, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China

  • Department of Nursing, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China

  • Department of Long-Term Care Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China

  • Department of Long-Term Care Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China

  • Department of Nursing, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China

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