Journal article

Few accounts exist of programmes in low- and middle-income countries seeking to strengthen community knowledge and skills in mental health. This case study uses a realist lens to explore how a mental health project in a context with few mental health services, strengthened community mental health competence by increasing community knowledge, creating safer social spaces and engaging partnerships for action.

Background and Objectives: Many adults with autism spectrum disorders require lifelong reliance on caregiver support. As these caregivers age and experience health challenges, social support can be critical. This study seeks to understand if caregiver health moderates the relationship between informal social support and caregiver burden.; Research Design and Methods: A total of 320 parents (age 50+ years) of adult children diagnosed with ASD were recruited from autism organizations and support groups and completed a web-based survey.

Purpose: To estimate and characterize the use of informal care by people with vision impairment in Portugal.; Methods: A total of 546 visually impaired individuals were recruited from Portuguese hospitals. Clinical information was obtained from medical records, socio-demographic details and informal care use were collected during face-to-face interviews. In addition, participants responded to a functional vision questionnaire (activity inventory) to assess their visual ability.

Background: With a rise in the aging population and a consequential rise in persons diagnosed with dementia comes an increase in the number of informal caregivers who are caring for a loved one.

Background: Approximately one third of older people over 65 years fall each year. Home modifications may decrease occurrence of falls.; Purpose: This study aims to determine the risk factors of falls for frail older persons and to evaluate the impact of home modifications by an occupational therapist on the occurrence of falls.; Method: We conducted a longitudinal study using a quasiexperimental design to examine occurrence of falls.

Aims and Objective: To explore the experiences of community patients living with a urethral catheter and those caring for them.; Background: Living at home with an indwelling urethral catheter often results in consequences that create a double-edged burden: first, on patients and their relative carers and second, in terms of unscheduled community nurse service "out-of-hours" provision.; Design: One-to-one interviews were conducted with patients living at home, their relative carers, qualified community nurses, augmented home carers and heal

Objective The aim of the present study was to compare the health status of South Australians with recent experience of caring for an adult with chronic disease with non-carers drawn from the same population. Methods Data were collected via the South Australian Health Omnibus, an annual population-based, cross-sectional survey. Respondents were asked whether they had provided care or support in the last 5 years to someone with cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease, mental illness, neurological disease or dementia.

Background: Medication management is commonly performed by informal caregivers, yet they are often unprepared and ill-equipped to manage complex medication regimens for their older adult care recipients.

Objective: Caring for someone with dementia can have negative consequences for caregivers, a phenomenon known as caregiver burden. Coping strategies influence the impact of caregiving-related stress. Specifically, using emotion-focused strategies has been associated with lower levels of burden, whereas dysfunctional strategies have been related to increased burden. The concept of self-compassion has been linked to both positive outcomes and the coping strategies that are most advantageous to caregivers.

Background: Recent research among cancer survivors suggests that health behaviors and coping are intertwined, with important implications for positive behavior change and health.