Does avoiding distressing thoughts and feelings influence the relationship between carer subjective burden and anxiety symptoms in family carers of people with dementia?

Van Hout, Elien ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2956-7575, Contreras, Milena L., Mioshi, Eneida and Kishita, Naoko ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8453-2714 (2023) Does avoiding distressing thoughts and feelings influence the relationship between carer subjective burden and anxiety symptoms in family carers of people with dementia? Journal of Applied Gerontology, 42 (8). pp. 1760-1769. ISSN 0733-4648

Preview

PDF (Accepted Manuscript J Appl Gerontol) - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (431kB) | Preview

Abstract

Anxiety remains understudied in family carers of people with dementia. Understanding factors that moderate the relationship between stressors and anxiety symptoms in this population is critical to inform interventions. This study examined whether generic experiential avoidance (AAQ-II) and experiential avoidance specific to caregiving-related thoughts and feelings (EACQ) moderate the relationship between subjective burden (ZBI-12) and anxiety symptoms (GAD-7) in carers of people with dementia. The first model (R²=.66, ∆R²=.03) exploring the moderating effect of AAQ-II demonstrated a significant interaction term between AAQ-II and subjective burden. The second model (R²=.53, ∆R²=.03), exploring the moderating effect of EACQ, demonstrated a significant interaction term between EACQ and subjective burden. These results provide evidence that carers with higher levels of experiential avoidance may be particularly prone to the negative effect of subjective burden on anxiety symptoms. Clinical implications for assessment of experiential avoidance and its treatment in carers of people with dementia are discussed.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Funding: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) under its Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Programme (Grant Reference Number PB-PG-0418–20,001). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. EVH’s studentship was supported by Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of East Anglia. EM is supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration East of England (ARC EoE).
Uncontrolled Keywords:	alzheimer’s disease,anxiety,caregivers,carer stressors,psychological inflexibility,gerontology,geriatrics and gerontology ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2900/2909
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Health Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Norwich Institute for Healthy Aging Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Dementia & Complexity in Later Life Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Centre for Japanese Studies Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Lifespan Health
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	27 Jan 2023 16:30
Last Modified:	19 Oct 2023 03:32
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/90847
DOI:	10.1177/07334648231156858

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item