Research of the relationship between neuropsychiatric symptoms and daily life activity levels in patients with dementia according to dementia caregiver

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between neuropsychiatric symptoms and daily life activity levels in patients with dementia according to dementia caregiver. This study was coducted at Hacettepe University Medical Faculty Psychiatry Department within the scope of Tübitak project number 214S048, between July 2016-August 2017, with 142 patients with dementia and their relatives/caregivers. Data of the study were collected with the Sociodemographic Data Form, ADL, IADL and NPI. The average daily life activity scale scores of the patients differ according to the caregiving status and the average of the daily life activity scores differs according to age, sex, marital status, child ownership, and other diseases accompanying dementia. NPI averages differ according to age and education, the average of distress points differs according to occupational groups and child ownership status of the relatives of the patients, the caregivers' degree of closeness to the patient, the frequency of telephone conversations, the presence of children with care, income status and other dementia depending on the type of care given to the patient. There was a significant positive correlation between ADL and IADL, NPI and NPI distress scores (p <0.05), but there was no relationship between NPI and ADL (p> 0.05). The ADL levels of non-caregivers were higher than those of the caregivers, and there was no relationship between NPI and ADL levels. In this direction, nurses' researches can be suggested to evaluate the relation with larger samples including different dementia diagnosis and psychoeducation arrangements for caregivers.