Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Within a context of increasing prevalence of both dementia and
intellectual disabilities, the effects of these disorders on caregiver well-being is a
pertinent topic of research. Yet caregiver satisfaction, a common experience within
caregiving has been widely neglected in the literature to date. This study therefore aimed
to assess levels of satisfaction between caregivers of individuals with dementia and
caregivers of individuals with intellectual disabilities. In addition caregiver burden,
caregiver wellbeing and care-recipient difficulties were also assessed.
METHOD: A cross-sectional independent groups design was used to assess differences
between caregivers of individuals with dementia and carers of individuals with
intellectual disabilities. Measures of caregiver satisfaction, caregiver burden, carerecipient difficulties and caregiver well-being were used.
RESULTS: Caregiver satisfaction was found to be greater in carers of individuals with
intellectual disabilities. There were no significant differences found in levels of
caregiver burden, care-recipient difficulties or caregiver well-being between the two
groups of carers. No effect of gender on caregiver satisfaction was found, however
caregiver satisfaction was found to be related to kin relationship.
DISCUSSION: The finding that caregiver satisfaction differs between different groups of
caregivers may help resources to be allocated to those groups who are most in need.
Limitations of this study, including a small sample size may have affected the results
obtained and directions for future research, including a focus on more longitudinal
studies that take into account care-recipient views are laid out.
