Page 35 - IJSA, Vol. 6, No 2, 2023

International Journal of Science Annals, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2023
рrint ISSN: 2617-2682; online ISSN: 2707-3637; DOI:10.26697/ijsa

Introduction of individuals with dementia. In their study, where
Dementia is a brain disorder that affects the functioning caregivers spent approximately 12.2 hours per day on
of the nervous system and, consequently, impairs caregiving, when they used adaptive strategies with the
cognitive functions such as memory, language, patient (e.g., guiding the patient), the care provided to
reasoning, among others. According to the World Health the individual with dementia was positive. Conversely,
Organization (2015), in 2015, an estimated 47.5 million when caregivers used maladaptive strategies that were
people were affected by this neurological condition, and poorly suited to caregiving (e.g., confronting the
this number is expected to increase over time due to patient), the quality of care was negatively affected. The
population aging. The progressive nature of this disease presence of neuroticism may lead individuals to
leads to the patient also losing social, functional, and experience greater difficulty in coping with stressful,
behavioral abilities, necessitating supervision and uncomfortable, or anxiety-inducing situations (Ji et al.,
support from caregivers. Informal caregivers are 2022; Karaaslan et al., 2020), consequently negatively
predominantly family members, often women, such as impacting the lives of those dependent on caregiving.
wives or daughters, who provide assistance with various This highlights the association between anxiety and
daily tasks to the patient (e.g., hygiene, dressing, or individuals’ personality traits. The presence of anxiety
feeding), dedicating several hours per day, without leads individuals to exhibit restlessness due to
receiving monetary compensation for their efforts. apprehensive anticipation of future situations (Ji et al.,
Caregivers offer essential support not only in terms of 2022). In the case of social anxiety, individuals perceive
basic and instrumental activities of daily living but also exposure to social interactions as problematic.
assume the responsibility of enhancing psychological Consequently, they tend to avoid such situations, which
well-being and quality of life for the patients (Serra et they perceive as threatening and where they might
al., 2018; Silva et al., 2013). The demand for informal become the focus of others’ attention (Morais et al.,
caregivers seems to be escalating, with a projected 2008). When the fear of these situations is experienced
estimate of 21.5 million caregivers by the year 2030, intensely, it can also manifest as social phobia. The
with caregivers expected to dedicate at least 20 hours per presence of social phobia causes irrational fears and
week to caregiving responsibilities (Silva et al., 2013). negative thoughts to impact individuals’ functionality
Providing care for an individual with dementia (Barlow, 2003), and a marked lack of sociability
necessitates empathy, flexibility, and patience; however, becomes prevalent in avoidant personality disorder
the approach taken by caregivers in executing their (Pellecchia et al., 2018). Indeed, the existence of
caregiving duties may also correlate with their comorbidity between social phobia and avoidant
personality traits (Melo et al., 2011). The psychological personality disorder has been observed (Wittchen &
characteristics that underlie one’s way of thinking, Fehm, 2001), as well as a relationship between social
feeling, and acting, as well as the patterns found in phobia, shyness, and avoidant personality disorder
attitudes and behaviors, define their personality (Flores- (Botella et al., 2003), or a positive correlation between
Mendoza & Colom, 2006). According to the Five Factor social anxiety and neuroticism, and a negative
Model, the personality traits are extraversion, correlation with extroversion (Kaplan et al., 2015).
agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and However, the predictive effects of social phobia and
openness to experience. Each trait represents a social anxiety on different personality traits of
continuum where each individual positions themselves, caregivers remain unknown. Additionally, personality
helping to define their personality (Schultz & Schultz, has also been associated with variables such as the
2021; Tew et al., 2013) demonstrated that the presence patient’s health status (Suso-Ribera et al., 2019),
of conscientiousness is associated with better physical, depression (Tavares et al., 2020), and caregiver burden
psychological, and social quality of life, while the (Kim et al., 2016; Tavares et al., 2020). Burden may
presence of extraversion promotes better mental health manifest in later stages of caregiving, for instance, in
among individuals. On the other hand, higher levels of female caregivers who dedicate 20 hours per week to
neuroticism negatively affect physical health, mental caring for individuals with dementia, indicating that the
well-being, social relationships, and environmental time devoted to caregiving also has negative effects on
aspects. The caregiver’s neuroticism for a person with caregivers’ lives (Swinkels et al., 2019). However, it is
dementia has a negative impact on their family not yet known how the time spent on caregiving may
functioning, while extraversion, agreeableness, and impact caregivers’ personality functioning, despite
conscientiousness have a positive impact on the same acknowledging that personality can also undergo
family functioning (Tavares et al., 2020). Throughout changes over time (Boyce et al., 2015). In light of this,
the caregiving process, caregivers with traits such as our study hypothesis posits that social phobia and social
optimism, extraversion, conscientiousness, and anxiety may be important predictors of personality traits
openness tend to employ more engagement coping in family caregivers of individuals with dementia, and
strategies in dealing with daily situations, whereas the that the hours of care provided may also exert a similar
presence of neuroticism is associated with effect.
disengagement coping (Carver & Connor-Smith, 2010). The aim of the study. To investigate how social phobia,
Melo et al. (2016) found that the presence of various social anxiety, and daily caregiving hours significantly
personality traits in caregivers leads them to use influence the personality characteristics of informal
different strategies in handling the behavioral changes family caregivers of patients with dementia.

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