Journal article

Purpose: To explore the perspectives of people anticipated to be in their last year of life, family carers, volunteers and staff on the impacts of receiving a volunteer-provided befriending service. Patient participants received up to 12 weeks of a volunteer-provided befriending intervention. Typically, this involved one visit per week from a trained volunteer. Such services complement usual care and are hoped to enhance quality of life. Methods: Multiple case study design (n = 8).

Objective: The study's aim has been to analyze the relatives' representations of patients under palliative care. Methods: It is a descriptive research with a qualitative approach, which is based on the Serge Moscovici's Social Representation Theory. Results: The research's results showed that death is described as a final physiological stage, in other words, a technically well-ordered process of nature and the only certainty that we have in life.

Men in the United States are increasingly involved in their children's lives and currently represent 40% of informal caregivers to dependent relatives or friends aged 18 years and older. Yet much more is known about the health effects of varying family role occupancies for women relative to men.

Background Higher patient-caregiver mutuality is associated with improved patient and caregiver outcomes, but no studies have tested the psychometric characteristics of the mutuality scale (MS) in heart failure (HF) patient and caregiver population. Objectives To test the validity and reliability of the MS. Methods A cross-sectional design. The MS validity and reliability were tested with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and hypothesis testing, and with Cronbach's alpha and model-based internal consistency index, respectively.

As Internet accessibility grows among adults in the United States, researchers' utilization of Internet-based surveys and recruitment strategies has increased, but there is a paucity of knowledge about their use in different age groups of former dementia caregivers.

Objectives: The stress-related psychological symptoms experienced by informal family caregivers do not always improve or resolve after the death of the care recipient.

Approximately 34 million family and friends provided unpaid care to individuals aged 50 and older in 2015. It is difficult to place a value on that time, because no payment is made to the caregiver, and multiplying caregiving hours by a wage does not account for the value of lost leisure time, implications for future employability and wages, or any intrinsic benefits accrued to the care provider.

Chronic diseases are mostly managed by family caregivers that often face the "caregiver burden". This study aimed to understand whether a multidisciplinary theoretical-practical training course could influence the burden, health literacy and needs of caregivers. Seventy-six familial caregivers were asked to complete the Caregiver Burden Inventory-CBI, Caregiver Needs Assessment-CNA, and Health Literacy Questionnaire-HLQ, before and after the course. A significant decrease in CBI and an increase of CNA were observed.

Accessible Summary: This study describes an Irish‐based study that examined how families of children with Down syndrome living in Ireland adapt to their child’s diagnosis. We found that good family communication and family hardiness have a positive affect on how families adapt. Families of children with Down syndrome have the potential to lead full and productive lives and positively adapt to their child’s diagnosis. Abstract: Background: Down syndrome is a genetic condition that affects people of all races, nationalities and socioeconomic status.

While involvement of family caregivers can play an important role in the recovery process of persons with serious mental illness (SMI), family caregivers often endure poor health and mental health issues due to caregiving-related distress. These challenges may be exacerbated for Vietnamese American families due to cultural values (e.g., familism and stigma). This qualitative exploratory study examined how Vietnamese American family caregivers of persons with SMI describe their caregiving experience.