ABSTRACT

Extensive literature exists documenting the relationship between stress and cognition. Caregiving for an individual with Alzheimer’s disease can be aunique and chronic stress experience due to the increasing dependency of the care-recipient as the disease progresses. The current study examines the relationship between stress and cognitive performance in 47 dementia caregivers compared to 47 noncaregiver control participants matched on age, gender, and education. Participants completed measures assessing stress (measured via the Perceived Stress Scale) and seven domains of cognition including episodic memory, working memory, executive functioning, attention, visuospatial processing, processing speed, and implicit memory. Results showed that caregivers had poorer performance than non-caregivers on certain measures of episodic memory, working memory, and executive functioning; while no significant differences were observed on measures of attention, visuospatial processing, processing speed, or implicit memory. In addition, when controlling for general stress, caregiver performance on measures of processing speed and visuospatial processing was also poorer than non-caregivers. By controlling for levels of general stress that may not be related to caregiving, these results show that differences in cognitive performance are unlikely to be explained by general stress alone.

摘要

存在大量文献记录压力与认知之间的关系。照顾阿尔茨海默病患者可能是一种独特的慢性压力体验，因为随着疾病的进展，护理接受者的依赖性越来越强。当前的研究检查了 47 名痴呆症护理人员与 47 名年龄、性别和教育相匹配的非护理人员对照组参与者的压力和认知表现之间的关系。参与者完成了评估压力的措施（通过感知压力量表测量）和七个认知领域，包括情景记忆、工作记忆、执行功能、注意力、视觉空间处理、处理速度和内隐记忆。结果表明，照料者在情景记忆、工作记忆、和执行功能；而在注意力、视觉空间处理、处理速度或内隐记忆的测量方面没有观察到显着差异。此外，在控制一般压力时，护理人员在处理速度和视觉空间处理方面的表现也比非护理人员差。通过控制可能与照料无关的一般压力水平，这些结果表明认知表现的差异不太可能仅由一般压力来解释。护理人员在处理速度和视觉空间处理方面的表现也比非护理人员差。通过控制可能与照料无关的一般压力水平，这些结果表明认知表现的差异不太可能仅由一般压力来解释。护理人员在处理速度和视觉空间处理方面的表现也比非护理人员差。通过控制可能与照料无关的一般压力水平，这些结果表明认知表现的差异不太可能仅由一般压力来解释。