Keywords
stress
elderly
work productivity
Abstract
Background: Caregiver burden refers to the physical, financial
and psychosocial hardships of caring for a loved one. Informal
caregivers, typically adult children who look after their elderly
parents, shoulder an unspoken degree of stress from this filial
responsibility. They report having to make major life changes and
personal sacrifices. High degree of caregiver burden among
working adults potentially affects their productivity at work. This
study aimed to identify the prevalence of caregiver burden among
adult family caregivers of elderly in Klang Valley, Malaysia and
to determine the effect on work productivity. Methods: This
cross-sectional study was performed on 281 adult family
caregivers using a self-administered questionnaire. A short
version of Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI-12) was employed to
measure caregiver burden. Work Productivity and Activity
Impairment as adapted for caregiving (WPAI: CG) was used to
measure work productivity as well as regular activities. Results:
Adult caregivers in Klang Valley reported experiencing moderate
level of burden (ZBI-12 score =15.30) in providing care to their
elderly. Employed caregivers reported an overall work
productivity loss of 57.2% due to caregiver burden. The study
subjects experienced 35.2% loss of regular activity productivity and it significantly correlated with the degree of caregiving
burden (r = 0.499, p < 0.05). Factors affecting caregiving burden
include ethnicity of caregivers (p<0.05) and care recipients (p <
0.05), education level of caregivers (p = 0.003), overall health
status of caregivers (p = 0.006) and care recipients (p = 0.047),
family relationship of caregivers with the elderly (p = 0.002) and
living arrangement of the elderly (p = 0.005). Conclusion:
Informal adult caregivers of the elderly in Klang Valley
experienced moderate level of caregiver burden and it
significantly affected their work productivity.
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