Psychological effects

Background: Family caregivers of patients receiving hemodialysis experience physical and psychological disorders. They are unfortunately neglected. Objectives: The aim of this study was to explain the psychological consequences for family caregivers of patients receiving hemodialysis. Methods: This qualitative inductive conventional content analysis research approach was conducted in Tehran, Iran. Nineteen hemodialysis patient caregivers were enrolled via purposive sampling.

The pathophysiological consequences of caregiving have not been fully elucidated. We evaluated how caregiving, stress, and caregiver strain were associated with shorter relative telomere length (RTL), a marker of cellular aging. Caregivers (n = 240) and some noncaregivers (n = 98) in the 2008–2010 Survey of the Health of Wisconsin, comprising a representative sample of Wisconsin adults aged 21–74 years, reported their sociodemographic, health, and psychological characteristics. RTL was assayed from blood or saliva samples.

Objectives: To determine whether a social support intervention (access to an employed befriending facilitator in addition to usual care) is effective compared with usual care alone. Also to document direct and indirect costs, and establish incremental cost-effectiveness.

Design: The Befriending and Costs of Caring (BECCA) trial was a cost-effectiveness randomised controlled trial. Data on well-being and resource use were collected through interviews with participants at baseline and at 6, 15 and 24 months.

This article summarises PhD research undertaken by the author and provides readers with the carer assessment tools validated in the study. [Journal abstract]