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Informal caregiver

The Effects of the Perception of Being Recognized by Patients With Alzheimer Disease on a Caregiver's Burden and Psychophysical Health

Caring for a patient with Alzheimer disease (AD) represents a real challenge that can have considerable long-term psychological and physical consequences. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the perception of being recognized on both the psychophysical health and the level of burden reported in caregivers of patients with AD. The secondary aim was to evaluate the association between the use of a home care assistance service and the burden and psychophysical health in caregivers.

Wed, 05/29/2019 - 13:39

Development of Measure Yourself Concerns and Wellbeing for informal caregivers of people with cancer—a multicentred study

Purpose Measure Yourself Concerns and Wellbeing (MYCaW) is a validated person-centred measure of the concerns and wellbeing of people affected by cancer. Research suggests that the concerns of informal caregivers (ICs) are as complex and severely rated as people with cancer, yet MYCaW has only been used to represent cancer patients’ concerns and wellbeing. This paper reports on the development of a new qualitative coding framework for MYCaW to capture the concerns of ICs, to better understand the needs of this group.

Mon, 04/01/2019 - 14:35

Changing Moods: How Manual Tracking by Family Caregivers Improves Caring and Family Communication

Previous research on healthcare technologies has shown how health tracking promotes desired behavior changes and effective health management. However, little is known about how the family caregivers' use of tracking technologies impacts the patient-caregiver relationship in the home. In this paper, we explore how health-tracking technologies could be designed to support family caregivers cope better with a depressed family member.

Fri, 03/22/2019 - 15:39

Would mobile health be a solution to rehospitalization?

It has been well‐established that social environmental factors can increase the risk of rehospitalization for people receiving home healthcare services. For caregivers who might be challenged to keep up with sometimes unfamiliar health monitoring tasks or to know when to seek help, mobile health technology offers the potential to enhance the skills of informal caregivers and to improve the communication between home and clinical care.

Fri, 03/22/2019 - 12:14

Adaptation of a scale to measure coping strategies in informal primary caregivers of psychiatric patients

Background: The recovery process of a psychiatric patient is related to his primary informal caregiver's style of coping with stress. There is insufficient literature on validations of instruments that measure coping styles in this population. Objective: To adapt and validate a scale to measure coping strategies in primary informal caregivers. Method: The adapted scale was based on the Extreme Coping Scale of López‐Vázquez and Marván. Items from that scale were adapted for application to informal caregivers.

Fri, 03/22/2019 - 09:59

“Self-Employed” in Caregivinghood: The Contribution of Swedish Informal Caregivers’ Environmental and Contextual Resistance Resources and Deficits

Informal caregivers provide the majority of care for older adults residing in their own homes. Caregivinghood, a new evidence-based concept, describes a time of life when relatives provide care at home. These caregivers need knowledge regarding resources to help them resolve the challenges they encounter. The theoretical framework underpinning this study is Antonovsky’s salutogenic theory of health.

Thu, 03/21/2019 - 14:38

The Economic and Social Impact of Informal Caregivers at Mulago National Referral Hospital, Kampala, Uganda

Background The severe deficit of health care workers in Uganda necessitates hospitalized patients to be cared for by a relative. These informal caregivers constitute a crucial component of patient care. Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda, is one of the nation's national referral hospitals, receiving very sick patients. Although studies have been conducted on challenges facing informal caregivers in the home setting, no study has addressed the caregiver burden in the hospital setting.

Thu, 03/21/2019 - 11:05

The Family in Care for the Elderly: Managing the Overload and Coping with Difficulties

Introduction: Family is considered the main support of the elderly in a situation of dependency. Caregiving often results in overloading, leading to diverse problems. Aim: To evaluate the self-perception of the family caregiver’s overload and the strategies used to provide informal care to the dependent elderly considering their level of dependence.

Wed, 03/20/2019 - 16:07

Trajectories of Multidimensional Caregiver Burden in Chinese Informal Caregivers for Dementia: Evidence from Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Zarit Burden Interview

Background: Despite its popularity, the latent structure of 22-item Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) remains unclear. There has been no study exploring how caregiver multidimensional burden changed. Objective: The aim of the work was to validate the latent structure of ZBI and to investigate how multidimensional burden evolves with increasing global burden. Methods: We studied 1,132 dyads of dementia patients and their informal caregivers. The caregivers completed the ZBI and a questionnaire regarding caregiving.

Wed, 03/20/2019 - 15:50

Informal Care Time and Cost in a Large Clinical Trial Sample of Patients with Mild to Moderate Alzheimer’s Disease: Determinants and Level of Change Observed

Introduction: We evaluate the association between caregiver (informal) time/cost and illness severity from two recently completed clinical trials of an investigational drug for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Methods: Changes from baseline caregiver time were calculated and treatment effects analyzed using a restricted maximum likelihood-based mixed model for repeated measures.

Wed, 03/20/2019 - 12:56