What Explains Differences Between Dementia Patients' and Their Caregivers' Ratings of Patients' Quality of Life?

Laura E Sands et al., What Explains Differences Between Dementia Patients" and Their Caregivers' Ratings of Patients' Quality of Life? 12 AM. J. GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY 272 (2004).

The authors assessed the magnitude of discrepancy between patients' and caregivers' ratings of the patients' quality of life and sought to determine whether the discrepancies are associated with patient characteristics, caregiver characteristics, or the type of relationship between the patient and caregiver. A sample of ninety-one patients with mild-to-moderately severe dementia and their primary family caregiver rated five domains of the patients' quality of life.

Agreement between patients and caregivers was low. Caregivers rated patients' quality of life lower than patients rated their own in all five domains. Discrepancies between patients' and caregivers' ratings were not associated with the patients' cognitive performance, level of functioning, nor caregivers' reports of aggressive, attention-seeking, or sexually inappropriate...