earticle

영어

Objectives: This study investigated influencing factors of and health behaviors due to depression in family members of dementia patients using data from the 2018 and 2019 Community Health Surveys. Methods: Data of 24,751 family members of dementia patients were statistically analyzed using descriptive and logistic regression. Results: First, family members living with a dementia patient had the characteristics of a socially vulnerable group due to the large number of women and older people among them, low education levels, low health levels, and high depressive symptoms. Second, the family members with depressive symptoms were in poor health-yet, they did not use medical services appropriately and their healthcare needs remained unmet due to economic and temporal reasons. Conclusions: Practical health support is needed to initiate counseling and mediation programs for dementia patients' family members with depression, and to prevent diseases and maintain and promote health.