Page 36 - 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

Materials and Methods interest in participating and becoming acquainted with
Participants the study was expressed, working meetings were
Ninety-seven participants of both sexes were included in scheduled, during which the study’s objectives were
this study, with 77.3% being women and 22.7% being presented. With the collaboration of these institutions,
men. The participants identified themselves as primary family caregivers of individuals with dementia were
informal caregivers for individuals with dementia and subsequently approached. Those family caregivers who
their ages ranged from 20 to 72 years, with a mean age willingly agreed to participate in the study proceeded to
of 45.91 (±13.37) years. On average, they provided sign an informed consent form, emphasizing the
10.56 (±8.33) hours of daily care to the person with voluntary nature of their involvement, and assuring
dementia. The average weekly leisure hours for the them of the absence of any health risks associated with
caregiver are 8.12 (±9.42). Among the sample, 61.9% their participation. The researchers made a commitment
are children of the person with dementia, 3.1% are to adhere to all ethical and deontological responsibilities
siblings, 2.1% are sons-in-law, 5.2% are spouses, 6.2% of the investigation, which were duly communicated to
are nephews/nieces, and 21.6% have another degree of the participants. The study protocol was administered in
relationship. Furthermore, 77.3% of caregivers provide a comfortable and well-lit room belonging to the
multiple types of care (e.g., feeding, hygiene, shopping) collaborating institutions or through online tools,
to the person with dementia, while 22.7% are adapting the data collection method to the caregivers’
responsible for only one type of care. Regarding the availability.
gender distribution of individuals with dementia, 67% Data Analysis
are female, and 33% are male. Most individuals with For the analysis of the collected data, the Statistical
dementia are widows (61.9%) and have completed Package for the Social Sciences, version 29 for
primary education (4 years of schooling) (42.3%). Windows (IBM, SPSS Statistics 29) was used. Initially,
Additionally, 51.5% of individuals with dementia have the data were examined through descriptive statistics,
a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, 6.2% have including frequencies and percentages for categorical
vascular dementia, and 42.3% have other types of variables and means and standard deviations for
dementia (e.g., Parkinson’s disease dementia, Lewy numerical variables. The correlation between variables
body dementia, and frontotemporal dementia). The was assessed using the Pearson correlation coefficient,
patients have an average diagnosis time of 6.06 (±5.99) and statistical assumptions such as homogeneity of
years. Among them, 83.5% live with the caregiver, variance and normal distribution of the sample were
while 16.5% live alone. The inclusion criteria for checked. To investigate the predictive effect, both
caregivers in this study considered those who were simple and multiple linear regression models were
responsible for patients with a clinical diagnosis of employed to estimate the magnitude and direction of the
dementia. impact of independent variables on caregivers’
Measures personality dimensions. Only independent variables that
As measurement instruments, a sociodemographic demonstrated significant correlations with personality
questionnaire was used to collect data from caregivers dimensions were included in the regression models. The
(age, hours of caregiving, etc.). The Big Five Inventory assumptions of the regression models were also verified.
(Portuguese version by Brito-Costa et al., 2015) was A significance level of p-value <0.05 was adopted to
employed to assess caregivers’ personality across five determine statistical significance.
dimensions through 44 items: Openness to Experience,
Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Results
Neuroticism. The instrument is rated on a Likert-type Correlation between Personality Traits, Caregiver’s
scale, with scores ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to Age, Hours of Daily Care, Social Phobia, and Social
5 (Strongly Agree). Higher scores indicate a greater Anxiety
presence of these traits in the subjects. The internal The dimension of openness exhibits a significant
consistency of the instrument yielded satisfactory values negative relationship with hours of daily care (r=-0.249,
(α=0.78). The social anxiety scale in social interaction p=0.014), a significant negative correlation with social
contexts, comprising 19 items, and the social phobia phobia (r=-0.276, p=0.006), and a significant correlation
scale, consisting of 20 items (Portuguese version by with social anxiety (r=-0.201, p=0.049). However, no
Pinto-Gouveia & Salvador, 2001), were employed. The significant relationship was found between this
first scale was utilized to assess caregivers’ levels of dimension and caregiver’s age (r=0.018, p=0.861). The
social anxiety, while the second scale aimed to evaluate dimension of conscientiousness exhibits a significant
social phobia. The assessment of these instruments was negative relationship with hours of daily care (r=-0.257,
based on a 4-point Likert-type scale, with higher scores p=0.011). However, it does not show a statistically
indicating higher levels of social anxiety and social significant relationship with social phobia (r=-0.050,
phobia. The psychometric characteristics of the scales p=0.625), social anxiety (r=-0.043, p=0.673), nor
were considered good, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.90 caregiver’s age (r=-0.075, p=0.464). The dimension of
and good discriminant validity. extraversion exhibits a significant negative relationship
Procedure with hours of daily care (r=-0.297, p=0.003), social
In the initial phase, the representatives of informal phobia (r=-0.287, p=0.004), and social anxiety
caregiver support institutions were contacted. Once their (r=-0.225, p=0.027). However, this dimension does not

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