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Journal article

Can Family Caregivers Provide Life Review to Reduce Depression in Older Adults With Dementia?

Life review (LR) therapy has received considerable support as an effective treatment for depression among older adults. Researchers believe that providing LR does not require extensive training and can be done by family members who are not psychiatric professionals. If so, then training family caregivers to provide LR is a potential strategy for alleviating the shortage of resources for treating depression among the growing population of older adults experiencing depression. A pilot study that explored the feasibility of that strategy had mixed results.

Sun, 02/09/2020 - 14:12

Buffer or Blade: Perceived relationship closeness in couples navigating Alzheimer's

Given the paucity of support from the welfare state, the lion's share of care for American seniors with memory loss is shouldered by their spouses who tend to be older and sometimes are frail themselves. Previous research has bifurcated attention to either accounts from diagnosed individuals or carers rather than understanding the experience within a socio-relational context of sometimes half-century long relationships.

Tue, 02/04/2020 - 15:48

Beware of Discharge: A Case Exploring the Ethics of Societal Expectations Placed on Family at Hospital Discharge

As the population ages and medical therapies advance, more individuals are living in the community with complex health conditions. These individuals, as well as their clinicians, often assume their family members and friends will be capable of, and willing to, provide the caregiving work necessary to continue living at home. There is an ethical problem in this assumption that unpaid community care will be provided by family or friends.

Tue, 02/04/2020 - 15:44

Berlin Inventory of Caregiver Stress-Dementia (BICS-D)

Background and Objectives: Dementia is becoming increasingly prevalent and family caregivers have been providing most of the care for persons with dementia. This caregiving is a mentally and physically demanding task. "The Berlin Inventory of Caregiver Stress-Dementia" (BICS-D) is a theory driven, multidimensional assessment which was developed as part of the Longitudinal Dementia Caregiver Stress Study (LEANDER).; Research Design and Methods: The inventory consists of 25 subscales with a total of 121 items.

Tue, 02/04/2020 - 15:40

Baseline resilience and depression symptoms predict trajectory of depression in dyads of patients and their informal caregivers following discharge from the Neuro-ICU

Objective: To explore the impact of resiliency factors on the longitudinal trajectory of depressive symptoms in patients admitted to the Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit (Neuro-ICU) and their family caregivers.; Materials and Methods: Patients (N = 102) and family caregivers (N = 103) completed self-report assessments of depressive symptoms (depression subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; HADS-D) and resiliency factors (i.e., mindfulness and coping) during Neuro-ICU hospitalization.

Tue, 02/04/2020 - 15:36

Barriers and facilitators to cancer treatment adherence for older Rural African Americans: Understanding the experience from the view of patients and their caregivers

The purpose of the present study was to understand the barriers that a particularly vulnerable sub-population of older adults experience in adhering to cancer treatments in rural eastern North Carolina. Qualitative descriptive interviews were completed with 16 individuals (8 cancer patients and their caregivers) about the challenges they face in adhering to cancer treatments. Three themes emerged based on the analysis which included transportation and financial barriers, and assistance that facilitated patients to adhere to treatment protocols.

Tue, 02/04/2020 - 15:31

Attributes of caregivers' quality of life: A perspective comparison between spousal and non-spousal caregivers of older patients with cancer

Purpose: With the aging population, our current understanding of patients with cancer and their family caregivers needs to be expanded to older patients with cancer and their caregivers. By differentiating spousal caregivers and non-spousal caregivers, we aimed to investigate the universalities and particularities of caregiving for older patients with cancer.; Methods: Through 11 cancer centers in South Korea, 358 patient-caregiver pairs were recruited in this cross-sectional study.

Tue, 02/04/2020 - 15:26

Association between sleep, care burden, and related factors among family caregivers at home

Aim: Several studies have reported a negative correlation between depressive symptoms and family caregivers' (FCs) subjective sleep status. However, there is a paucity of information on the association between objective/subjective sleep status, care burden, and related factors.; Methods: Participants were 23 pairs of care receivers (CRs; Mage = 82.7 ± 8.5 years; 69.6% women) receiving long-term care at home and their FCs (Mage = 66.9 ± 11.0 years; 69.6% women).

Tue, 02/04/2020 - 15:21

Are Young Carers Less Engaged in School than Non-Carers? Evidence from a Representative Australian Study

Evidence suggests that young carers are less likely to complete or do well in secondary school compared with young people without caring responsibilities. Positive engagement at school is an important correlate of school outcomes, yet quantitative evidence on the factors contributing to young carers’ school engagement is lacking.

Tue, 02/04/2020 - 15:16

The Arabic and Hebrew versions of the caregiving ambivalence scale (CAS): examining its reliability, validity, and correlates among Israeli caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease

Objectives: Providing care for family members with Alzheimer's disease (AD) might awaken ambivalent feelings in caregivers. This topic, however, has received little research attention. Having reliable and valid scales is a first step in expanding our knowledge in this area, particularly among different cultural groups, as ambivalent emotions have been found to be dependent on culture.

Tue, 02/04/2020 - 15:12