Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Aug 8;23(1):475.
doi: 10.1186/s12877-023-04129-0.

Burden of care and coping strategies among informal caregivers of people with behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia in rural south-western Uganda

Judith Owokuhaisa  1 , Ronald Kamoga  1 , Pius Musinguzi  1 , Moses Muwanguzi  1 , Sylivia Natukunda  1 , Vincent Mubangizi  1 , Keith Asiime  1 , Godfrey Zari Rukundo  2   3
Affiliations

Burden of care and coping strategies among informal caregivers of people with behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia in rural south-western Uganda

Judith Owokuhaisa et al. BMC Geriatr. .

Abstract

Background: Caregiving is a draining role that inflicts a significant level of burden upon caregivers for older people with Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD). Caregiver burden is associated with poor health outcomes for both the people with BPSD and their caregivers. This study explored the burden of care and coping strategies used by informal caregivers of older people with BPSD in rural Southwestern Uganda.

Methods: This was a qualitative study among informal caregivers of older people with BPSD in Rubanda and Rukiga districts. We conducted in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of 27 caregivers using an interview guide. The interviews were conducted in the local language, audio recorded, transcribed, translated into English, and thematically analyzed.

Results: There were two major themes: caregiver burden and coping strategies. Caregiver burden was described as financial, physical, psychological and social. Caregivers mainly used emotion-focused coping strategies (religious coping, acceptance and emotional support seeking). Problem-focused coping strategies (planning) and dysfunctional coping strategies (self-distraction) were used to a lesser extent.

Conclusion: Informal caregivers of people with BPSD adopted both emotional and problem-focused coping strategies to cope with the burden of care for people with BPSD. Such coping strategies seemed to lighten the burden of caring, in the long motivating the caregivers to continue with the caring role.

Keywords: Behavioral and psychological symptoms of Dementia; Burden; Caregiver; Coping strategies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they had no competing interests

References

    1. Mayeux R, Stern Y. Epidemiology of Alzheimer disease Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine, 2012: p. a006239. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Maëlenn Guerchet RM, Peter LloydSherlock M, Prince I, Aboderin R, Akinyemi S-M, Paddick. Anders Wimo, Mary Amoakoh-Coleman, Richard Uwakwe, Peter Ezeah Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) Dementia in sub-Saharan Africa Challenges and opportunities. 2017: london.
    1. Mubangizi V, et al. Prevalence and correlates of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in rural Uganda: cross-sectional, population-based study. BMC Geriatr. 2020;20(1):48. doi: 10.1186/s12877-020-1461-z. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guerchet M, et al. Dementia in sub-saharan Africa: Challenges and opportunities. Alzheimer’s Disease International; 2017.
    1. Cerejeira J, Lagarto L, Mukaetova-Ladinska EB. Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. Front Neurol. 2012;3:73–3. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2012.00073. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types