Springer Science & Business Media

There is a growing interest in incorporating informal care in cost-of-illness studies as a relevant part of the economic impact of some diseases. The aim of this paper was to review the recent literature valuating the costs of informal care in a group of selected diseases from 2005 to 2015. We carried out a systematic review on the economic impact of informal care, focusing on six selected diseases: arthritis or osteoarthritis, cancer, dementia, mental diseases, multiple sclerosis and stroke. We selected 91 cost-of-illness articles.

Informal care receipt is associated with health outcomes among people living with HIV. Less is known about how caregivers' own social support may affect their care recipient's health. We examined associations between network characteristics of informal caregivers and HIV viral suppression among former or current drug using care recipients. We analyzed data from 258 caregiver-recipient dyads from the Beacon study, of whom 89% of caregivers were African American and 59% were female.

Purpose: At the end of life, spiritual well-being is a central aspect of quality of life for many patients and their family caregivers. A prevalent spiritual value in advanced cancer patients is the need to actively give. To address this need, the current randomized trial examined whether adding a peer helping component to a coping skills intervention leads to improved meaning in life and peace for advanced gastrointestinal cancer patients and their caregivers. Feasibility and acceptability outcomes were also assessed.

Muscular dystrophy (MD) is a group of progressive muscle weakness diseases. The caregiver burden, increasing as the disease progresses, can be associated with impaired health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The aims of this study were to investigate the HRQOL in caregivers of patients with MD and identify the factors associated with HRQOL. A cross-sectional assessment of caregiver HRQOL was performed with the Short Form-36 and compared with norms. The factors affecting HRQOL were investigated by patient and caregiver characteristics.

There have been several violence-related deaths in Japan due to family violence by persons with severe mental illness against their caregivers. However, it is not often acknowledged that these violent acts are mainly directed at family members. This study aimed to clarify what acts of violence family caregivers experienced from their relative with schizophrenia, and how frequently these violent incidents occurred in their lifetime.

Purpose: The author aimed to evaluate the quality of life and the factors affecting the caregivers of cancer patients receiving home care. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed in 48 cancer patients who were served from home care unit and 48 caregivers between 01 and 28 February 2014. Patients' functional status was evaluated with Katz Index for Activities of Daily Living and the Lawton Scale for Instrumental Activities of Daily Living.