Dementia

INTRODUCTION: The current work describes the protocol for a meta-integration investigating the positive aspects of providing care to someone living with dementia. We aim to understand the position of positive aspects in the caregiver experience as well as identify how positive aspects are commonly conceptualised, investigated and measured in literature.

Alzheimer's disease and related dementias make up the fifth leading cause of death for individuals of 65 years of age and older in the United States. Seventy percent of these individuals will die in long-term care settings. The aim of this integrative review was to examine and synthesize the evidence on grief and bereavement in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias caregivers.

Background: There are an increasing number of people living with dementia, as well as an expectation that care decisions are made collaboratively with those with the disease entering the end stage and their families. This has increased the burden on family carers. Aim: To explore the evidence on the decisional support needs of informal carers of people with end-stage dementia. Design: A rapid scoping review was undertaken of peer-reviewed publications between 2000 and 2016, which included all health-care settings and the person's own home.

Dementia in Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is an area of significant health and community concern. In this article, we use a hermeneutic mode of interpretation to deepen understanding of experience and meaning in dementia for family carers of older Aboriginal people in urban Australia.

Objective: Informal caregivers often experience psychological distress due to the changing functioning of the person with dementia they care for. Improved understanding of the person with dementia reduces psychological distress. To enhance understanding and empathy in caregivers, an innovative technology virtual reality intervention Through the D'mentia Lens (TDL) was developed to experience dementia, consisting of a virtual reality simulation movie and e-course. A pilot study of TDL was conducted. Methods: A pre-test–post-test design was used.

Background: Most dementia care occurs in the community with support from informal caregivers who are often distressed. Dementia caregiver distress is known to be hazardous to the caregiver's health, but the impact on the dementia care recipient is not well known. Methods: the Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Cochrane databases were searched from inception until June 2017 for studies investigating the association of informal caregiver distress with health outcomes of community‐dwelling dementia care recipients.

Practice example of a model developed to support carers in understanding and dealing with challenging behaviours. The Caregiver appraisal model is a prospective model of caregiver stress which has been developed by Northumberland County Behaviour Support Service. The model was developed from work with seven family caregivers over 12 months and provides a framework for managing their distress based on their appraisals of the situations confronting them. It is a cognitive behavioural model. The article describes how the model was developed, how it works and points of practice.

Objectives: Qualitative research has suggested that spousal experiences of discontinuity in their relationship with a person who has dementia (i.e. the relationship is experienced as radically changed) may contribute to heightened feelings of burden, entrapment, isolation, guilt and intolerance of behaviours that challenge. By contrast, continuity in the relationship may contribute to a greater sense of achievement and gratification from providing care. The present study served as a quantitative test of these suggestions.

Background: The number of people living with dementia (PWD) is increasing worldwide, corresponding with an increasing number of caregivers for PWD. This study aims to identify and describe the literature surrounding the needs of caregivers of PWD and the solutions identified to meet these needs. Method: A literature search was performed in: PsycInfo, Medline, CINAHL, SCIELO and LILACS, January 2007–January 2018. Two independent reviewers evaluated 1,661 abstracts, and full-text screening was subsequently performed for 55 articles.

Objectives: Dyadic activating interventions support both people with dementia and their informal caregivers to maintain activities. For a person-cantered approach referrers need insight in how specific interventions might meet individual needs, characteristics, and preferences of a dyad. This study aimed to develop a set of indicators for three psychosocial dyadic, activating interventions. Method: This study used the ‘RAND Appropriateness Method’ directed at agreement on indicators within a panel of experts.