Investigation of the relationship between caregiver burden and alexithymia levels of family members who care for individuals with dementia

This descriptive study was conducted to investigate the relationship between care burden and alexithymia levels of family members who care for individuals with dementia. The population of the study comprised caregivers of individuals with dementia who presented to the Dışkapı Yıldırım Beyazıt Training and Research Hospital affiliated to the Ankara Provincial Health Directorate. Of them, those who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study sample (n:106). Data were collected using the Personal Information Form, Caregiver Burden Inventory, and Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Data were collected between August 2020 and April 2021 using the face-toface interview method. In the analysis of the data, numbers, percentages, arithmetic mean, Shapiro-Wilk, t test, Pearson correlation analysis were used. The mean age of the participating caregivers was 41.77±13.68 years, Of them, 67% were women, 50% were university graduates, 42.5% had income less than their expenses, 13.2% had a chronic disease, 30.2% cared for their mothers, 57.5% had been giving care for 1-5 years, 77.4% received support from other family members while providing care, and 58.5% could spare time for themselves. The mean scores they obtained from the overall Caregiver Burden Inventory and Toronto Alexithymia Scale were 47.66±22.65 and 58.18±10.86 respectively. Of the participating caregivers, 32.1% did not have the symptoms of alexithymia, 26.4% probably had alexithymia, and 41.5% had alexithymia. Of the participating caregivers, those who could not spare time for themselves, had communication problems with the patient while providing care, and did not receive support from other family members while giving care obtained higher mean scores from the Caregiver Burden Inventory and Toronto Alexithymia Scale than did the other participants. According to the results of the study, one of the factors affecting the care burden is alexithymia. While nurses support caregivers, they should also take alexithymia into account as one of the important factors affecting the care burden, and plan and implement nursing care according to their needs. Key Words:Alexithymia, Caregiver, Caregiver Burden, Dementia, Nursing