TY - JOUR
T1 - Feeling Alone Together
T2 - Loneliness in Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment and Their Family Caregivers with Low Mastery
AU - Sung, Pildoo
AU - Chan, Angelique
AU - Lim-Soh, Jeremy
N1 - Caring for persons with dementia and their caregivers in the community: Towards a sustainable community based dementia care system (COGNITION) study was supported by the National Innovation Challenge on Active and Confident Ageing Grant (award no.: MOH/NIC/COG05/2017). The funding organizations had no role in the design or conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of the results; or preparation, or approval of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.
PY - 2024/5
Y1 - 2024/5
N2 - Introduction: Loneliness in older persons with cognitive impairment (PCI) may beget loneliness in their family caregivers, depending on buffering resources caregivers possess. This study examined the association between loneliness in older PCI and loneliness experienced by their family caregivers, and the moderating role of caregiver mastery in this association. Methods: Dyadic data from 135 PCI and their family caregivers in Singapore were analyzed using multivariable regression. Loneliness was measured using a three-item UCLA loneliness scale. Mastery was assessed using a seven-item Pearlin instrument. Results: Multivariable regression showed that PCI loneliness and caregiver loneliness were weakly associated, taking other covariates into account. Notably, a significant interaction between PCI loneliness and caregiver mastery was observed, indicating that PCI loneliness was associated with caregiver loneliness only when caregivers had low mastery. Conclusion: Lonely PCI may share their feelings of loneliness with their caregivers, and this can lead to loneliness among caregivers if they have low mastery. Promoting caregiver mastery may help reduce caregiver loneliness, directly and indirectly as a buffer against PCI loneliness.
AB - Introduction: Loneliness in older persons with cognitive impairment (PCI) may beget loneliness in their family caregivers, depending on buffering resources caregivers possess. This study examined the association between loneliness in older PCI and loneliness experienced by their family caregivers, and the moderating role of caregiver mastery in this association. Methods: Dyadic data from 135 PCI and their family caregivers in Singapore were analyzed using multivariable regression. Loneliness was measured using a three-item UCLA loneliness scale. Mastery was assessed using a seven-item Pearlin instrument. Results: Multivariable regression showed that PCI loneliness and caregiver loneliness were weakly associated, taking other covariates into account. Notably, a significant interaction between PCI loneliness and caregiver mastery was observed, indicating that PCI loneliness was associated with caregiver loneliness only when caregivers had low mastery. Conclusion: Lonely PCI may share their feelings of loneliness with their caregivers, and this can lead to loneliness among caregivers if they have low mastery. Promoting caregiver mastery may help reduce caregiver loneliness, directly and indirectly as a buffer against PCI loneliness.
KW - Caregiver loneliness
KW - Caregiver mastery
KW - Cognitive impairment
KW - Older adult loneliness
KW - Singapore
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85192414512&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1159/000536644
DO - 10.1159/000536644
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 38354725
AN - SCOPUS:85192414512
SN - 1420-8008
VL - 53
SP - 66
EP - 73
JO - Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders
JF - Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders
IS - 2
ER -
