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Caregiver Burden and Work Productivity Among Japanese Working Family Caregivers of People with Dementia

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A Correction to this article was published on 04 January 2019

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Abstract

Background

We examined the association between caregiver burden and work productivity (i.e., absenteeism, presenteeism, and overall work impairment) among working family caregivers of people with dementia and whether job characteristics (i.e., job demands, job control, supervisor and coworker support) moderate this association.

Methods

A cross-sectional correlational study design using a web-based questionnaire survey was conducted among 379 Japanese working family caregivers of people with dementia (105 female, age range 20–77) in May 2016, which measured caregiver burden, work productivity, care situation, job characteristics, and demographics. Caregiver burden was designated as an independent variable and each aspect of work productivity as a dependent variable in a hierarchical multiple regression analysis, adjusting for demographics. Interaction terms between caregiver burden and each job characteristic were also included in the model.

Results

Caregiver burden was significantly and positively associated with presenteeism (β = 0.219, p < 0.001) and overall work impairment (β = 0.181, p < 0.001), while the association of caregiver burden with absenteeism was not significant (β = − 0.003, p = 0.953). Interaction effects of caregiver burden × coworker support on presenteeism (β = − 0.189, p = 0.023) and overall work impairment (β = − 0.172, p = 0.034) were significant. According to simple slope analyses, caregiver burden was greater at lower levels of coworker support compared to higher levels of coworker support for both presenteeism and overall work impairment.

Conclusions

Our study suggests that higher caregiver burden is associated with a decrease in work productivity. Additionally, coworker support appears to buffer the association of caregiver burden with presenteeism and overall work impairment among working family caregivers of people with dementia.

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Change history

  • 04 January 2019

    The authors have noted that the number of participants in the final sample should be 377, rather than 379. In this correction, the two mistaken cases were removed and analyses were repeated with 377 cases.

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Funding

This study was supported by a JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP26861979 (Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists [B]), JP18K12988 (Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba City, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan

    Satoko Fujihara & Katsunori Kondo

  2. Department of Public Health, Kitasato University School of Medicine, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami-ku, Sagamihara City, Kanagawa, 252-0374, Japan

    Akiomi Inoue

  3. Department of Biostatistics, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, 3-9 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa, 236-0004, Japan

    Kazumi Kubota

  4. Department of Public Health, Akita University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1-1 Hondo, Akita City, Akita, 010-8543, Japan

    Kim Fong Roseline Yong

  5. Department of Gerontological Evaluation, Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, 7-430 Morioka-cho, Obu City, Aichi, 474-8511, Japan

    Katsunori Kondo

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  1. Satoko Fujihara
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Correspondence to Satoko Fujihara.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution and with 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Fujihara, S., Inoue, A., Kubota, K. et al. Caregiver Burden and Work Productivity Among Japanese Working Family Caregivers of People with Dementia. Int.J. Behav. Med. 26, 125–135 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-018-9753-9

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