Table 2.

Problems Experienced by Informal Caregivers in Caring for a Person with Dementia (in Percentages)

Problems	Stages of Dementiaa
	< 1 Year N=89	1-4 Years N=744	≥ 4 Years N=661	Total N=1494	p
Has problems dealing with changes in the behavior of the person with dementia	75.9	79.1	78.0	78.4	0.73
Dreads the person’s admission to a nursing home	59.0	62.0	58.7	60.4	0.45
The care for the person with dementia is often emotionally too demanding	48.2	52.8	58.2	54.9	0.06
Was not sufficiently familiar with available support options when the person was diagnosed with dementia	46.6	47.0	51.0	48.7	0.30
Is worried that the behavior of the person with dementia will cause unsafe situations in or around the house	42.0	49.7	42.1	45.9	0.02
Has less contacts with friends or acquaintances due to the illness of the person with dementia	25.6	36.7	49.1	41.5	0.00*
Cannot leave the care for the person with dementia to others when needed	39.5	42.4	39.1	40.8	0.47
Feels lonely	23.3	36.9	47.0	40.6	0.00*
Cannot adequately cope with the grief over the deteriorating situation of the person with dementia	39.8	39.5	41.2	40.3	0.81
Finds it hard to make decisions for the person with dementia	45.3	39.3	39.4	39.7	0.55
Thinks that health problems may occur because of the person’s difficulty with communicating physical ailments	27.3	34.2	45.1	38.6	0.00*
Has received insufficient information about the symptoms and progression of dementia	34.5	33.9	41.8	37.4	0.01
Has the feeling of being on his/her own in caring for the person with dementia	31.8	36.1	38.6	36.9	0.38
Does not sufficiently know how to deal with the person’s resistance	39.3	37.7	32.0	35.3	0.07
The care for the person with dementia is often physically too demanding	14.9	27.7	37.0	31.0	0.00*
Contacts with relatives have been diminished due to the illness of the person with dementia	16.1	24.3	36.3	29.0	0.00*

The questionnaire addressed a total number of 35 problems. This table reports the problems most frequently mentioned by informal caregivers.

^*Differences between the stages of dementia are statistically significant (chi-square test, p < 0.01)

^aEvaluated by the informal caregiver.