Family Caregivers for Elderly with Dementia May be Daughters, in Their 50s or Married: Study

An elderly couple meets through a glass partition at a convalescent hospital in Muan, southwestern South Korea, on March 8, 2021, after the facility permitted non-contact visits. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, March 13 (Korea Bizwire) — The elderly with dementia are cared for mainly by their daughters rather than sons, adding that those in their 50s account for the largest share of caregivers, a study showed Sunday.

As part of her Master’s thesis, Kim Da-mi, a student at Hanyang University’s Graduate School of Nursing, conducted a survey of 125 family caregivers who give home care to seniors with dementia registered at regional dementia support centers.

The study showed that women accounted for 103 out of the 125 family caregivers, about five times higher than men.

Among the caregivers, the share of those in their 50s accounted for 36.8 percent, followed by those in their 40s at 33.6 percent and those under 30 at 29.6 percent. Their average age stood at 47.4.

In the context of the family relationship between caregivers and seniors with dementia, daughters accounted for the largest share at 42.4 percent, followed by daughters in law at 16.8 percent and sons at 15.2 percent.

The share of those who were married stood at 76 percent, far exceeding that of singles at 24 percent.

The share of those with higher than university education stood at 76 percent, followed by those with high school education at 16 percent and those with lower than middle school education at 8 percent.

The caregivers spent 9.3 hours on average per day to take care of their family member with dementia.

J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)