Midtveisevaluering - Toril Marie Terum

Toril Marie Terum er tilknyttet Klinisk institutt 1. Veiledere er Ingelin  Testad, John Roger Andersen og Arvid Rongve.

PhD project

Neuropsychiatric disturbances in dementia and association with perceived burden in caregivers.
A prospective cohort study of caregivers of persons with dementia living at home

By Toril Marie Terum

Caregivers of people with dementia carry a heavy burden of care, often with negative impact on caregiver’s social life and mental health. Neuropsychiatric symptom (NPS) has been identified as one of the most important care-recipient variable associated with caregiver burden, and is shown to be an important predictor of nursing home admission (NHA).

NPS encompasses a variety of psychiatric symptoms and behavioral disturbances. Still, the vast majority of studies providing evidence on the association between NPS and negative caregiver outcomes, group these symptoms together as one construct. Thus, the effect of individual symptoms to a limited extent has been examined.

The overall aim of this study is to obtain a deeper understanding of how individual NPSs are associated with caregiver burden, caregivers mental health and time until NHA, in primary caregivers of persons with AD and DLB, in a longitudinal perspective. The study is primarily based on data from the DemVest study, a 10-year longitudinal prospective cohort study conducted in Norway 2005-2013. The first paper is a systematic review.