Asia

Background: Upsurge in life expectancy, filial responsibility of caring, and healthcare advances have increased the older adult population in Asia. The last decade has witnessed nuclear families' proliferation in Asia, leaving family caregivers with more accountability and responsibility. This review explores the pattern of caregiver burden among caregivers of older adults with chronic illness in Asia. Methods: PRISMA guidelines serves as the framework for this systematic review.

Background: Religion and culture affect the meaning and practicalities of caring for families with mental illness in Malaysia. Such care also differs according to social background, family values and support, commitment, availability, practicality and the needs of the care recipient. Methods: This qualitative study explores 14 Malay caregivers of the older adults with mental health problems in Kelantan, Malaysia. A semi-structured interview was translated and transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis using NVivo software.

Background: Family caregivers, especially in Asian countries, have a profound role in caring for a sick family member. However, there are wide variations between the Asian and western world in terms of culture and facilities. Therefore, the problems and needs of family caregivers between those two regions may also be distinct, and it is important to explore and elaborate based on our empirical evidence. In Indonesia, motives and values in caregiving and religion become the wheel-power of the family caregivers in providing care.

Background: Families are the backbone of caregiving for older adults living in communities. This is a tradition common to Thailand and many low- and middle-income countries where formal long-term care services are not so available or accessible. Therefore, population aging demands more and more young people engaging as family caregivers. Informal caregiving can become an unexpected duty for anyone anytime. However, studies measuring the burden of informal caregivers are limited.

In the era of global ageing, amid political concerns about increasing care needs and long-term sustainability of current care regimes, most high-income economies are seeking to minimise the use of institutional care and to expand formal home care for their older populations. In long-term care reforms, concerns about public funding, formal providers and the paid care workforce are foremost. However, an integral yet hidden part of all these reforms is the stealthily growing role of family carers.

Purpose of the Study: To (a) assess the validity and reliability of the 9-item Positive Aspects of Caregiving (PAC) scale among a national sample of caregivers for older adults with functional limitations, (b) develop a shorter version (short-PAC [S-PAC] scale) and assess its psychometric properties, and (c) investigate both scales’ measurement equivalence/invariance (ME/I) across language of administration (Chinese/English/Malay).

Affiliated stigma often refers to internalized stigma among family members of stigmatized individuals. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between affiliate stigma and quality of life (QOL) among primary caregivers of individuals with mental illness undergoing treatment at the Institute of Mental Health, Singapore. Three hundred and fifty caregivers were recruited for the study. The World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) and Family Stigma Scale (FSS) were administered to the primary caregivers of patients with mental illness.

Background: Family caregivers of cancer patients often experience an impaired quality of life (QOL) and emotional distress as a result of their caregiving duties, which may potentially influence the quality of care of their care recipients. The COPE (Caregivers of cancer Outpatients' Psycho-Education support group therapy) intervention was developed as a response to the lack of work done among family caregivers of ambulatory cancer patients in Asia.

Background: Family caregivers of cancer patients often experience an impaired quality of life (QOL) and emotional distress as a result of their caregiving duties, which may potentially influence the quality of care of their care recipients. The COPE (Caregivers of cancer Outpatients' Psycho-Education support group therapy) intervention was developed as a response to the lack of work done among family caregivers of ambulatory cancer patients in Asia.