Author:

Keywords:

Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Neurosciences, Neurosciences & Neurology, Parkinson's disease, caregiver burden, mindfulness, psychological flexibility, health-related quality of life, QUALITY-OF-LIFE, ATTENTION AWARENESS SCALE, PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES, NONMOTOR SYMPTOMS, HEALTH SURVEY, QUESTIONNAIRE, VALIDITY, CARE, INFLEXIBILITY, RELIABILITY, Parkinson’s disease, health‐related quality of life, MDS-UPDRS, COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT, 1109 Neurosciences, 1701 Psychology, 1702 Cognitive Sciences, 3209 Neurosciences, 5201 Applied and developmental psychology, 5202 Biological psychology

Abstract:

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative movement disorder with progressive impairments in activities of daily living. With disease progression, people with PD (PwP) need more help and care from their spouses or professional caregivers. Identifying factors that help caregivers to cope with their burden is needed to frame future interventions for PwP caregivers. Mindfulness and psychological flexibility might be factors contributing to resilience against the burden of giving care. In this cross-sectional questionnaire-based study, 118 PwP and their respective primary caregivers were included. Caregivers reported moderate burden and only mild depressive symptoms. Mindfulness measured by the Mindfulness Attention and Awareness scale (p 0.003) and psychological flexibility measured by Acceptance and Actions Questionnaire II (p0.001) correlated negatively with caregiver burden. Data from this study indicate mindfulness and psychological flexibility are factors contributing to resilience against caregiver burden. Future interventions to reduce burden in PwP caregivers might be improved by the inclusion of mindfulness training programs.