Fig. 2

Stacked bar chart with the different mentioned abundances of caring activities. The organization of everyday-life, patient care and participation in discussions with the doctor as well as the decision concerning the patient’s treatment were included in the questionnaire. The questions were answered based on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = never, 2 = seldom, 3 = occasionally, 4 = often, 5 = always). The question about the caregiving concerning the everyday-life of the patient because of the wet AMD was answered mostly with “never”. However, of the total answers marked ‘always’, 88.8 % was a female caregiver and 11.1 % was male. For the answers marked ‘often’, 77.27 % was female and 22.73 % was male. Concerning the everyday-life caregiving of the patient, a significant gender difference could be shown by a chi-squared test (p = 0.02). When it comes to the organization of the treatment of wet AMD, 37.3 % indicated that the organization of treatment had ‘seldom’ taken place. However, of the 30.6 % of the total sample that reported that they ‘always’ organized the treatment, 80.4 % were women and 19.5 % were men. The participation of the caregiver at doctors appointments concerning the wet AMD was also requested. The caregivers answered in 45.3 % of the cases that they were ‘always’ involved in the appointments. This ‘always’ was given by 74.6 % of female caregivers and by 25.4 % of male caregivers. Also, the response option ‘often’ was given by 68.7 % of women and by 31.2 % of men. Here a significant gender difference could be shown by a chi-squared test (p = 0.03)