Using apriori algorithm to explore the influence of pressure from patients with dementia on caregivers from a medical center in Taiwan

This study analyzes the dementia patients and caregivers from a medical center in central Taiwan as an example. Apriori algorithm was used to explore the degree of stress faced by caregivers in different dementia patients in order to provide better medical services to the caregivers. Two hundred and thirty-four effective data sets from the dementia database of this medical center were used with 14 demographic variables in this study including gender, age, type of dementia, severity of dementia, activity, age of caregivers, marital status, relationship with the patient, working status, care mode, care frequency, care item, caregiver’s mood as well as the degree of pressure of the caregiver. The parameters of support, confidence, and lift are set to 2%, 100%, and greater than 1, respectively. Two hundred and eighty-one rules are obtained. Eleven rules are generated when the caregiver’s stress level is moderate to severe. Eleven rules are found when the caregiver’s stress level is mild to moderate. If the dementia patients and caregivers reach the similar scenarios, the hospital can pay much attention to caregivers to reduce their stress and, therefore, improve the quality of healthcare.