Psychological problems

Background: Despite the risk for developing mental disorders, most of advanced cancer patients' family caregivers undergo a resilient process throughout the caregiving period.

People with learning disabilities have high dependency needs and high prevalence of physical, psychological and social morbidities. Some studies have shown that South Asian and white populations have a similar prevalence of learning disabilities and related psychological morbidity (McGrother et al, 2002), although other studies have shown an increased prevalence of severe levels of learning disabilities in the South Asian population (Emerson et al, 1997).

Background  The growing global epidemic of HIV/AIDS has a significant impact on the lives of both people living with HIV/AIDS and their family members including children. Children of parents with HIV/AIDS may experience an increased responsibility of caregiving in family. However, limited data are available regarding the caregiving experience and its impact on psychosocial well-being among these children. This study was designed to address these issues by using qualitative data collected from children affected by HIV/AIDS in China.

Caring for patients with various conditions is demanding and stressful and can have a negative impact on both physical and psychological health. This paper reports a systematic review and critical appraisal of the evidence on the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction for the family caregivers of patients with various conditions. There were improvements in the self-rated psychological symptoms, such as stress, depression, anxiety and mindfulness.