PAiS

The PAiS study explored the situation of relatives of dementia patients as care givers in rural areas of Salzburg. Gathering data from care givers themselves, professional care services and family doctors provided a unique opportunity to understand the stress and care situation of relatives better. The study addressed individual challenges from the psychological, behavioral and economic perspective and furthermore the infrastructural settings supporting care givers. The comparison across the three datasets revealed significant differences in the relevance of stress factors between the perception of the care givers and the two professional groups. Beyond these findings, the living conditions of care givers vary substantially with a clear relationship to the perceived burden and behavioral implications.