Jour

Objective: To identify factors affecting the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of informal caregivers assisting people with (multiple sclerosis) MS who have greater functional impairment.

Methods: Data were collected in a national survey of 530 people who provided informal care to people with MS. Multiple linear regression models analyzed these data.

Various studies suggest that there is a preference among patients, professionals and the public for death to occur at home (Dunlop et al, 1989; Townsend et al, 1990; Hinton, 1994). Data indicates that some patients are denied the opportunity to exercise choice in the place of death. In areas where palliative rapid-response teams have been available more people have been able to die at home. This article presents the findings of an evaluation of a hospice rapid-response service in the Highlands of Scotland, which was designed to respond to the needs of people in crisis facing death.

Background: Most studies of exercise training for heart failure have been conducted on relatively young patients with little comorbidity. Such programmes are unsuitable for the majority of older frail heart failure patients.

Aims: To test the acceptability and tolerability of an outpatient exercise programme in older heart failure patients with comorbid disease.

High levels of stress among family and professional caregivers of older adults with dementia are associated with physical and mental health problems, and decreased quality of care. Existing stress reduction interventions are based on the western medical model of care. They typically focus on providing caregivers with support, psychoeducation or behaviour management skills, and these interventions have typically had modest outcomes. An especially promising intervention for dementia caregivers, which is based on the eastern holistic model of care, is mindfulness training.

Bone Health in the Park was created in Ireland and is an online health promotion education resource focussing on bone health, healthy ageing and falls prevention. The programme was designed by an Advanced Nurse Practitioner in collaboration with an Education Technologist and primarily uses storytelling to promote education specifically on bone health and falls risk prevention for health care professionals, clients, families and informal carers.

BACKGROUND: Stroke, a disease with severe consequences for patients and their families, often lead to psychosocial stress, and a decline in the quality of life (QoL) among carers. Predicting the QoL is essential in the development of effective nursing support interventions.

AIM: The aim of the present study was to identify predicting factors for the general QoL among spouses of stroke patients, and to determine whether these predictors change during the first year after the patient's stroke event.

Long-term care of the elderly and the disabled rests on a vast network of informal caregivers. This qualitative study examined the effects of caregiving on the health and wellbeing of a small, non-representative sample of urban women caregivers. These 11 informants participated in two interviews. Health was conceptualized in a holistic manner, consistent with the view of the World Health Organization and Health Canada. The caregiving experience, as described in this study, was life changing and consuming.

Future increases in need of old-age care warrant research on receipt of informal care among older people in different policy and cultural contexts. Separating informal care into help provided by spouse and by children may shed more light on dynamics of informal help, important in alleviating the demands on the formal sector. Using nationally representative data from England and Finland, we performed logistic regression analyses to study receipt of help from spouse and children among community-dwelling persons aged 70+ years with functional limitations.

Little research has been carried out into determinants of both carer satisfaction in the caregiving role and how these compare with determinants of emotional distress among carers. Principal informal caregivers to 91 patients with dementing or non-dementing disorders were identified from consecutive referrals to community psychiatric nurses in an old age psychiatry service. Clinical, demographic, service and carer satisfaction variables were recorded. Emotional distress in carers was measured with the 28 item General Health Questionnaire.