Dementia

Introduction :Advances in longevity and medicine mean that many more people in the UK survive life-threatening diseases but are instead susceptible to life-limiting diseases such as dementia. Within the next 10 years those affected by dementia in the UK is set to rise to over 1 million, making reliance on family care of people with dementia (PWD) essential. A central challenge is how to improve family carer support to offset the demands made by dementia care which can jeopardise carers’ own health. This review investigates ‘what works to support family carers of PWD’.

Personality of family caregiver is an important factor influencing the caregiver's burden, depression and distress. We now hypothesized that the personality is associated with specific strategies used by family caregivers to deal with the behavioral and psychological symptoms of demented relatives (BPSD). Participants were 98 consecutive persons with dementia and their family caregivers.

Background: Family caregivers of people with dementia have significant unmet needs in regard to their caregiving role. Despite this, they are reluctant to utilize services to reduce their burden. The aim of this study was to examine the barriers and facilitators of service use among family caregivers of people with dementia. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 family caregivers of community-dwelling people with dementia. Of these, 12 were partner caregivers (4 men, 8 women) and 12 were offspring caregivers (2 men, 10 women).

Background: One caregiver relationship that has been neglected in caregiver depression research is the daughter-in-law. Compared with Western countries, in which those who are closer in familial relationships such as the spouse or child usually take care of the patient, in many Asian countries, the daughter-in-law often assumes the caretaker role. However, not much research has been done on how this relationship may result in different caregiver outcomes.

Aims. The aim of this study was to explore distinct trajectories of caregivers' depressive symptoms and the effects of a training programme on these trajectories over 18 months after the programme. Background. Overall effects of caregiver-training programmes on family caregivers' depressive symptoms have been reported, but few studies explored distinct courses of changes in caregivers' depressive symptoms and followed up intervention effects on these distinct courses. Design. Randomized clinical trial. Methods.

Background: There are many systematic reviews and meta-analyses (SRs) of interventions for family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. A challenge when synthesizing the efficacy of dementia caregiver interventions is the potential discrepancy in how they are categorized. The objective of this study was to systematically examine inconsistencies in how dementia caregiver interventions are classified.

Distress is commonly experienced by those caring for someone with dementia, and can occur whether the carer is living with a person with dementia, or supporting a person with dementia who lives alone to maintain their independence. It is essential for health and social care professionals to support family carers to balance their needs with those of the person they care for. However, this might be challenging because many influencing factors can affect these needs, and identifying the needs of the family carer and balancing them with the needs of the person with dementia is often complex.

Background For people living with dementia, the capacity to make important decisions about themselves diminishes as their condition advances. As a result, important decisions (affecting lifestyle, medical treatment and end of life) become the responsibility of someone else, as the surrogate decision-maker. This study investigated how surrogate decision-makers make important decisions on behalf of a person living with dementia.

Knowledge about family caregivers in rural areas remains sparse. No studies to date have addressed the sociocultural aspects in caregiving, thus neglecting potentially significant data. This study aimed to explore and better understand family caregivers' experiences in rural and urban areas and the sociocultural spheres that these two areas represent. How do family caregivers approach their caregiving situation? A hermeneutical approach was chosen to uncover the underlying meanings of experiences. Open-ended in-depth interviews were conducted.

Carer distress is an all too common factor in caring for someone with dementia, whether living with the person with dementia, or trying to maintain their independence when they are living alone. Providing support for families on many day-to-day issues with immediacy as and when they arise can be very difficult to achieve for services on the ground as carer need can be difficult to anticipate as well as the changing status of the person with dementia.