CAREGIVER HUMOR STYLES MAY AFFECT QUALITY OF LIFE IN PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA

摘要

People with dementia often report using humor as a way to cope with their cognitive impairment, and our recent work suggests that people with dementia who favor positive humor styles experience greater purpose in life. Less is known about the impact of a primary caregiver’s humor style on the quality of life of the care recipient. The current study explores the role of the caregiver’s humor style in quality of life outcomes for the person with dementia. Using 66 dyads, we examined the impact of caregiver burden and humor styles on quality of life in people with mild-to-moderate dementia while also considering psychosocial variables of the care recipient. Age, sex, education, and cognitive status were unrelated to quality of life in the person with dementia. Regression analyses showed that purpose in life (B = .20, p<.001) and social relationships (B = .19, p<.001) were associated with quality of life in people with dementia (R2=.61; F(3,61)=31.5, p<.001). After accounting for the impact of these self-reported variables, the propensity of a caregiver to use an affiliative humor style (B = .14, p=.01) and refrain from a self-defeating humor style (B = -.15, p<.01) also predicted better quality of life in people with dementia (change in R2=.08, F(8,56)=15.8, p<.001). Caregiver burden was unrelated to the care recipient’s quality of life. These results suggest that in addition to promoting purpose and social interaction in the lives of people with dementia, caregivers might also consider using positive humor and minimizing negative humor styles.