Journal article

BACKGROUND: Caregiver contributions (CC) to heart failure (HF) self-care maintenance (ie, CC to maintaining HF stability) and management (ie, CC to dealing with HF signs and symptoms) improve patient outcomes, but it is unknown whether caregiver preparedness influences CC to self-care and whether caregiver confidence mediates this process. OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the influence of caregiver preparedness on CC to HF self-care maintenance and management and the mediating role of caregiver confidence. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of the MOTIVATE-HF study.

Introduction In 2012, the Ontario government launched Health Links (HL), which was designed to integrate care for patients with multimorbidity and complex needs who are high users of health services. This study evaluated perceptions of family and friend caregivers of patients enrolled in the HL program.

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the ambiguities and uncertainties experienced by a diverse group of African-American caregivers. The study applied Schlossberg's transition theory (TT) and Mishel’s revised uncertainty theory to narratives of self-identified African-American caregivers who provided care at least 5 h a week. The men (6) and women (8) were mostly unmarried, mostly caring for a parent or grandparent. The caregivers’ average age was 52 (SD = 19; ages ranged from 24 to 82 years); and the care recipients’ average age was 84 (SD = 9).

Background: Caring for patients with advanced or terminal diseases can confront family caregivers (FC) with ethical challenges. The present study aims at tracing paths connected to ethical challenges among FC of advanced cancer patients by exploring morally troubling situations and related burden, as well as strategies to handle the situation and experience of moral distress from the grieving FC's perspective. Methods: Within a qualitative design, interviews with 12 grieving FC were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide.

Objectives: To evaluate cost-effectiveness of an in-home respite care program in addition to standard community-based dementia care to support informal caregivers of persons with dementia compared with standard community-based dementia care. Methods: An age-dependent decision-analytic Markov model was applied from a third-party payer and a societal perspective projecting results of a quasi-experimental study over a time horizon of 5 years assuming a repetition of the program every 6 months.

Highlights

• We determined the relationship between long hours of care and the assistance in each activity of daily living (ADL) element.

• The assistance in wiping of the body, dressing and toileting were significantly associated with longer hours of care .

• To support caregivers effectively, it is important to consider the kinds of ADL elements of the care recipients.

Background: Relational satisfaction of spousal/partner informal caregivers of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) is important for continued care and support. Previous studies have examined relational satisfaction in terms of well-being and quality of life of informal caregivers. Based on the Rusbult investment model, we directly studied the relational satisfaction of spousal/partner informal caregivers of individuals with MS.

In this qualitative phenomenological study using a purposive sample, six caregivers of patients on hemodialysis were interviewed about their experiences of caring for a family member who uses hemodialysis. Six major themes and 12 subthemes were identified. Perceptions of caregivers are that caregiving is hard work and stressful; however, caregivers found the experience to be meaningful, even though the stress may interfere with their own health status. Study limitations include a small sample that may not represent the entirety of caregivers' perspectives.

Aims The purpose of this study was to validate patient's primary caregiver and their nurse's perception of patient discharge readiness assessment and their association with postdischarge medical consumption. Design The study employed a descriptive research, prospective longitudinal study design. Method The study was performed in a ward of a medical centre in Taipei, Taiwan, from June 2017–May 2018. Obtained data were analysed using an independent t test, one‐way ANOVA and logistic regression approach.

Background: There is a lack of research on the effectiveness of online peer support groups for reducing social isolation and depressive symptoms among caregivers, and previous research has mixed results. Objective: This study aimed to test whether military caregivers who joined a new online peer support community or engaged with an existing online community experienced decreased perceived social isolation and improved depressive symptoms over 6 months.