Journal article

Research suggests that adult children are less likely to provide care to community-dwelling parents when beds in residential care settings are more widely available. The underlying mechanisms are not well understood.

Background: Reforms in the Dutch healthcare system in combination with the aging of the population will lead to a strong increase in the demand for informal care in the Netherlands. A hip fracture is one of the most important causes of hospital admissions among frail elderly and informal caregivers experience stress that may have significantly negative impact on the caregivers’ Quality of Life.

Background When seeking care at international hospitals and clinics, medical tourists are often accompanied by family members, friends, or other caregivers. Such caregiver-companions assume a variety of roles and responsibilities and typically offer physical assistance, provide emotional support, and aid in decision-making and record keeping as medical tourists navigate unfamiliar environments.

Background: This pilot study aimed to investigate quality of life, psychological burden, unmet needs, and care satisfaction in family caregivers of advanced cancer patients (FCs) during specialized inpatient palliative care (SIPC) and to test feasibility and acceptance of the questionnaire survey. Methods: During a period of 12 weeks, FCs were recruited consecutively within 72 h after the patient’s admission.

Background: Dementia is one of the most challenging age-related illnesses for family caregivers, whose care-related burden is well known. Research indicates that day care centres (DCCs) can reduce the caregiver burden and help family caregivers to cope with demands; however, the current body of knowledge is still tentative and inconsistent, and more research is recommended. The aim of this study is to provide an extended understanding of the situation of family caregivers and to examine to what extent DCCs can meet their need for support and respite.

Aims and objectives: To explore the experiences of family members of patients treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Background: Sudden onset of an unexpected and severe illness is associated with an increased stress experience of family members. Only one study to date has explored the experience of family members of patients who are at high risk of dying and treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Design: A qualitative descriptive research design was used.

Objective: To evaluate patient post-intensive care syndrome (PICS-P) and caregiver burden 3 months after discharge from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and determine the impact of different components of PICS-P upon caregiver burden. Design: A prospective observational study was conducted over 26 months (January 2013–February 2015). Setting: Medical-surgical ICU and follow-up consultation in Portugal. Patients or participants: Patients discharged after a minimum of 2 days in the ICU.

Caregiving to older people with needs has been mainly dependent on informal care provision by female caregivers. Compared with the care burden gender gap, the within-gender gap in women's socioeconomic status (SES) has attracted less policy attention. We investigated the association between middle-aged women's SES and the likelihood of being a primary caregiver for elderly informal care, focusing on household income, women's marital status, work status, and educational background under the universal and public system of formal long-term care provision in Japan.

Two key components of end-of-life planning are (1) informal discussions about future care and other end-of-life preferences and (2) formal planning via living wills and other legal documents. We leverage previous work on the institutional aspects of marriage and on sexual-minority discrimination to theorize why and how heterosexual, gay, and lesbian married couples engage in informal and formal end-of-life planning. We analyze qualitative dyadic in-depth interviews with 45 midlife gay, lesbian, and heterosexual married couples (N = 90 spouses).

It has been well‐established that social environmental factors can increase the risk of rehospitalization for people receiving home healthcare services. For caregivers who might be challenged to keep up with sometimes unfamiliar health monitoring tasks or to know when to seek help, mobile health technology offers the potential to enhance the skills of informal caregivers and to improve the communication between home and clinical care.