Abstract

Introduction:
Dementia is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder that refers to a disease process marked by progressive cognitive impairment in clear consciousness. The morbidities associated with dementia accounts for the poor quality of life. Equally affected are caregivers of these patients. The study aims to assess the expressed emotion (EE) in caregivers of patient with dementia and how providing care to these patients affect them. This further includes sociodemographic and clinical features of the caregivers.
Aim: To assess the expressed emotions of the primary caregiver of dementia patients.
Methods and material:
The cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2021 to May 2022 in the Department of Psychiatry, MGM medical college, Indore (M.P.) after approval from the institutional ethical committee. The study included 60 patients and 60 caregivers attending the psychiatry outpatient department (OPD). They were assessed using a semi-structured proforma consisting of socio-demographic and clinical variables. A clinical rating scale i.e. Family attitude scale (FAS) was applied for caregivers and Dementia severity rating scale (DSRS) for the patients. Pearson's and Spearman's correlation coefficient was applied with a p-value < 0.05 considered significant.
Result: 
The study finds that the mean age of the caregiver was 55.6 ± 10.01 years and that of a patient was 69.81± 0.71 years. The mean FAS score was 72.7 ± 12.72. A negative correlation was established between EE and income of the caregiver and was found to be statistically significant (p

Key words: Caregivers, Expressed emotion, Income