British nursing index bni - exported on 8/7/2016

Caregiving is one of the most important personal sacrifices family members make for their older loved ones. There are at least 43.5 million caregivers in the United States who provide informal family caregiving, averaging about 19 hours of care per week, for an average of 4 years.1 Although family members, especially spouses and adult children, usually occupy these caregiving roles, in diverse cultural and ethnic groups with collectivistic values, caregivers also may be fictive kin (relatives not related by blood, such as godchildren, family friends, or neighbors).

Well, that’s another Carers Week over and done with for another year, the 21st of such weeks apparently. What do you mean you didn’t know that there was one? This is the one week of the year where ‘informal carers’ are allowed to be ‘out and proud’.

Informal care of older people, including a summary of research on the attitudes towards willingness to care for an elderly person among members of the general public aged 20-39 years and 40-59 years. Nurses' attitudes towards elderly care nursing are also discussed. It is suggested that nurses can influence attitudes to the elderly and engage with informal carers. [(BNI unique abstract)] 11 references

Aim.  To throw light on the lived experiences of female partners of patients with Parkinson disease living at home.

Background.  It is known that daily life with a partner with Parkinson’s disease entails radical upheaval in the family, in particular for the female partner.

Methodology.  A phenomenological hermeneutic approach was used. Interviews with female partners (N = 10) of patients with Parkinson disease who were living at home were conducted in Denmark in 2008. The French philosopher Ricoeur’s theory of interpretation guided the data analysis.

This article suggests that relational approaches and carer-centred practice in mental health and other services might alleviate some of the burden on the health – both physical and mental – experienced by informal carers. Unhelpful staff attitudes and poor communication are barriers to effective engagement between professionals and carers.

Care of a person with mental illness involves multiple burdens, possibly leading to burnout. This study compares partners of persons with schizophrenia and depression with nursing staff based on dimensions of burnout. Nursing staff and partners of patients with schizophrenia or depression were consecutively recruited from psychiatric hospitals and interviewed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory. No significant differences were found in the three dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment) for the two groups of caregivers.

Caregiving is a women's health issue globally, as many more women than men are informal caregivers. Caregiving related to gender role socialization, burden, and economic and health consequences has been discussed in the literature. Together this body of work demonstrates some positive but mainly negative consequences to the health and economic circumstances of women.

Purpose/Objectives: To explore linkages among empathic responding by informal caregivers with the physical symptom experiences and psychological distress of patients with ovarian cancer. Design: Preliminary, descriptive, correlational, and cross-sectional. Setting: Psychosocial oncology support group in Canada. Sample: Convenience sample of 13 women with stage I-IV ovarian cancer with the majority diagnosed with disease recurrence. Methods: Data were collected on a single telephone call using the Hospital A

Informal carers are not always recognized for the role they play in supporting those with a disability, including learning disabilities. However, their inclusion in the way in which health services are provided can be crucial in ensuring that the best possible standards of care are offered. This article looks at the definition of formal and informal care and discusses how support workers and health professionals more broadly can improve the experiences of informal carers and those with learning disabilities.

Purpose of review: To summarize the latest research on the risks and consequences of the burden that may be imposed on informal carers of persons living and dying with advanced heart failure.

Recent findings: A systematic search in PubMed over the period 2013?2014 ultimately revealed 24 original articles included in this review. From this research update it can be concluded that the body of knowledge increased with more studies focusing on caregivers of patients with advanced heart failure.