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Abstract

Introduction
Caregivers who live with a person with dementia who receives care, compared with those who live elsewhere, are often considered to experience greater levels of psychological and affective burden. The evidence for this is, however, only limited to studies employing small sample sizes and that failed to examine caregivers’ psychological wellbeing. We address these issues in a large cohort of dementia caregivers.

Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional study comparing caregivers living with a dementia care recipient (n = 240) to caregivers living elsewhere (n = 255) on caregivers’ burden, anxiety, and depression.

Results
We found that caregivers living with the care recipient relative to those living elsewhere showed significantly greater burden and depression, but we found no group difference in anxiety.

Conclusions
Our study adds to the evidence by showing that cohabiting with a care recipient with dementia is associated with greater burden and poorer psychological wellbeing. Strategies aiming to improve caregivers’ burden and psychological wellbeing should take account of caregivers’ living arrangements.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Aging & Mental Health on 8 February 2021, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13607863.2021.1881758
Publisher Keywords:	Caregiver burden; mental health; dementia; informal caregiver; psychological strain
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Healthcare Services Research & Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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