Journal article

Background: In the joint project "Mobile Care Backup'' funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the smartphone-based app "MoCaB'' was developed in close cooperation with informal caregivers. It provides individualized, algorithm-based information and can accompany and support caring relatives in everyday life. After a multi-step development, informal caregivers tested the MoCaB app in a home setting at the end of the research project.

Background: Studies in the West have demonstrated that appropriate informational support is a vital component of cancer care, with positive effects on both patients and their informal caregivers.

Background: Caregiving experiences are not static. They change across the disease trajectory and care continuum. However, it is not clear how caregiver gender or relationship type is related to evolving caregiver experiences over time. Objectives: This qualitative study informed by constructivist grounded theory and framework analysis explored the experiences over time of men and women who were adult children and spousal caregivers to persons with Alzheimer’s disease.

Background: Caregivers are major contributor to the self-care of patients with heart failure. The Caregiver Contribution to Self-Care of Heart Failure Index (CC-SCHFI) measures these contributions across three scales: self-care maintenance (symptom monitoring and treatment adherence); self-care management (dealing with symptoms); and confidence in contributing to the self-care (self-efficacy in managing self-care) of patients with heart failure.

Background: Informal caregivers, or carers (unpaid family members and friends), are instrumental to millions worldwide for the ongoing delivery of health and well-being needs. The risk of crisis points (eg, hospitalizations) for caregivers increases with the absence of physical activity. The COVID-19 pandemic is highly likely to have increased the risk of crisis points for caregivers by increasing the amount of time spent indoors due to shielding and lockdown restrictions.

Background and Objectives: The "unexpected career"of caregiving has previously been conceptualized in stages: community care through institutional placement/residence, ending with death of the care recipient. Transition programs such as Money Follows the Person (MFP) created a new stage of the caregiving career, caring for someone post-long-term institutionalization, about which little is known. Using Pearlin's Caregiver Stress Process Model, this study explores effects on caregivers from the return of their loved ones to the community after a long-term institutional stay.

Background: Individuals with young onset dementia and their families face unique challenges, such as disruptions to their life cycle and relationships and a dearth of appropriate supports. Financial consequences have also been noted in the literature yet have not been explored in-depth. Objective: The purpose of this research was to qualitatively explore carers’ experiences of financial consequences resulting from the young onset dementia of a family member and how these consequences may be managed.

Objective: Family caregivers play an essential role in end-of-life care but suffer considerable impact on their own health. A better understanding of main factors related to carers' health is important to inform interventions. The purpose of the study was to test for the first time the potential impact of a comprehensive set of observable variables on carer health during end-of-life caregiving within a population-based carer sample. Design National retrospective, cross-sectional, 4-month post-bereavement postal census survey of family carers of people who died from cancer.

Background: Autosomal recessive congenital ichthyoses (ARCI) are a genetically heterogeneous group of rare and chronic disorders characterized by generalized skin scaling and hyperkeratosis, erythroderma, and palmoplantar keratoderma. Additional features include ectropion, eclabium, ear deformities, foul-smell, joints contractures and walking problems, recurrent infections, as well as pruritus and pain. No curative therapy is available and disease care mainly relies on daily application of topical emollients and keratolytics to the whole-body surface.

Objective: This study examined whether certain demographic characteristics, caregiver strain, and coping behaviors were associated with the mental health outcomes of family caregivers of children with disabilities in Bolivia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A mixed-methods convergent study design was used with virtual interviews to quantitatively assess caregivers' demographic characteristics, caregiver strain, coping behaviors, and mental health outcomes, as well as qualitatively assess how the pandemic affected their family.