June 28, 2024
IMPACT research fellow Yifan Lou, PhD, MSW and Design and Statistics Core member Joan Monin, PhD, MS are among the authors of a new article describing a recent study investigating whether there is self-awareness in people living with dementia (PLWD) about their difficulties in emotion regulation and whether their care partner’s (CP) emotion regulation relates to neuropsychiatric symptoms among PLWD.
Using data from the Wish Outcome Obstacle Plan Study with a sample of 45 PLWD and their spousal CP (n = 90 individuals). Multivariate linear regression models were used to investigate the associations between the CP-reported neuropsychiatric symptoms in PLWD and self-reports of emotion regulation in both dyad members, net of sociodemographic and health factors. Separate analyses were conducted for each neuropsychiatric subsyndrome and each domain of difficulties in emotion regulation.
Increasing severity of neuropsychiatric symptoms was associated with higher difficulties in emotion regulation in PLWD but not with CP’s difficulties in emotion regulation. Proxy reports of hyperactivity and psychosis subsyndromes are significantly related to PLWD’s self-reported difficulties in emotion regulation.