Associations Between Psychological Distress, Learning, and Memory in Spouse Caregivers of Older Adults
| Autor: | Lynn Hasher, Corey S. Mackenzie, David Goldstein, Ursula J. Wiprzycka |
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| Rok vydání: | 2009 |
| Předmět: |
Male
Aging Psychometrics Social Psychology Neuropsychological Tests Serial Learning Developmental psychology Cost of Illness Reference Values medicine Humans Attention Cognitive skill Episodic memory Problem Solving Aged Aged 80 and over Recall Depression Working memory Family caregivers Wechsler Scales Cognition Middle Aged medicine.disease Clinical Psychology Distress Memory Short-Term Caregivers Mental Recall Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences Caregiver stress Female Geriatrics and Gerontology Psychology Gerontology Stress Psychological |
| Zdroj: | Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. (6):742-746 |
| Popis: | Family caregivers of older adults experience high levels of chronic stress and psychological distress, which are known to impair cognition. Very little research, however, has assessed the impact of caregiving on key cognitive outcomes such as learning and memory. This study compared 16 spouse caregivers with 16 matched controls using standardized neuropsychological measures of learning, episodic memory, and working memory. Analyses compared groups on these cognitive outcomes and examined whether psychological distress mediated group differences in cognition. Results indicated that caregivers were significantly more distressed than non-caregivers and exhibited deficits in learning, recall of episodic information after short and long delays, and working memory. Furthermore, the majority of group differences in cognitive outcomes were mediated by psychological distress. This study adds to a small body of literature demonstrating impaired cognitive functioning among family caregivers. It also suggests that distress is one of a number of possible underlying mechanisms leading to disruptions in learning and memory in this population. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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