Abstract

GARCIA-CASTRO, F Javier. Relationship between character strengths and mental health in informal caregivers of people with dementia. Escritos de Psicología [online]. 2021, vol.14, n.1, pp.20-29.  Epub Sep 20, 2021. ISSN 1989-3809.  https://dx.doi.org/10.24310/espsiescpsi.v14i1.12680.

The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between character strengths and mental health in informal dementia caregivers. Variables included depression, anxiety, stress, caregiver burden, and mental health problems. We conducted a series of canonical-correlation analyses. The first set of variables comprised character strengths, classified into virtues, and the second set comprised the mental health variables. Results show significant intercorrelations between character strengths and informal caregivers' mental health. Informal caregivers who tended to have higher scores in character strengths from the virtues of courage, humanity, and transcendence, also tended to have lower scores in depression, stress, caregiver burden, and mental health problems. Specifically, significant relationships were found between bravery, zest, love, social intelligence, appreciation of beauty, gratitude, hope, and humor. The findings from this study suggest that intervention programs based on the promotion and development of these character strengths might improve the psychological health of caregivers.

Keywords : Informal caregivers; Virtues; Depression; Anxiety; Stress; Caregiver burden.

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